Generating user notifications using beacons on online social networks

ABSTRACT

In one embodiment, a method includes receiving, from a beacon associated with a third-party content provider (e.g., a business), session information of the first user of an online social network. The first user&#39;s mobile device may be proximate to and in a wireless communication session with the beacon, which may be located at the third-party content provider. One or more second users, who are each connected to the first user in a social graph, may be selected. A communication session is not active between the beacon and the mobile devices of the second users. The selection may be based on selected second users being located within a predefined distance of the beacon (e.g., in the same neighborhood). A notification referencing selected second users (e.g., a prompt to invite the selected second users to the beacon location) may be sent to the first user&#39;s mobile device.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure generally relates to exchanging information overwireless communications sessions, particularly within the context of anonline social network.

BACKGROUND

A social-networking system, which may include a social-networkingwebsite, may enable its users (such as persons or organizations) tointeract with it and with each other through it. The social-networkingsystem may, with input from a user, create and store in thesocial-networking system a user profile associated with the user. Theuser profile may include demographic information, communication-channelinformation, and information on personal interests of the user. Thesocial-networking system may also, with input from a user, create andstore a record of relationships of the user with other users of thesocial-networking system, as well as provide services (e.g., wall posts,photo-sharing, event organization, messaging, games, or advertisements)to facilitate social interaction between or among users.

The social-networking system may send over one or more networks contentor messages related to its services to a mobile or other computingdevice of a user. A user may also install software applications on amobile or other computing device of the user for accessing a userprofile of the user and other data within the social-networking system.The social-networking system may generate a personalized set of contentobjects to display to a user, such as a newsfeed of aggregated storiesof other users connected to the user.

Social-graph analysis views social relationships in terms of networktheory consisting of nodes and edges. Nodes represent the individualactors within the networks, and edges represent the relationshipsbetween the actors. The resulting graph-based structures are often verycomplex. There can be many types of nodes and many types of edges forconnecting nodes. In its simplest form, a social graph is a map of allof the relevant edges between all the nodes being studied.

SUMMARY OF PARTICULAR EMBODIMENTS

In particular embodiments, a social-networking system may facilitate theestablishment and confirmation of a wireless communication sessionbetween a beacon and a user's client system proximate to the beacon inorder to enhance a user's experience at the beacon-holder business.After a wireless communication session is established, thesocial-networking system may send social-networking information of theuser to a third-party content provider associated with the beacon (i.e.,the beacon holder), by way of the beacon. The social-networkinginformation sent to the third-party content provider may be customizedbased on the type of goods purveyed or services rendered by thethird-party content provider. For example, if the third-party contentprovider is a department store, the social-networking system may sendsocial-networking information of the user that includes colorpreferences and shoe and clothing sizes of the user. In another example,if the third-party content provider is a restaurant, thesocial-networking system may send social-networking information of theuser that includes food allergies and favorite foods. Thesocial-networking information of the user may, in turn, be used by thethird-party content provider to personalize third-party content, whichmay be sent to the user's client system by the third-party contentprovider, either directly or via the beacon. The third-party contentprovider may also send third-party content to the social-networkingsystem, which may personalize the third-party content and send it to theuser's client system. For example and not by way of limitation, athird-party content provider may be a book retailer and may receivesocial-networking information that includes a list of books recentlyread by the user, and the third-party content provider may send the usertitles of suggested books to read, which may be available for purchaseat the third-party content provider.

In particular embodiments, a social-networking system may anonymize andaggregate social-networking information and session information ofmultiple users whose client systems have been associated with beacons ofa third-party content provider in wireless communication sessions.Session information may include, for example and not by way oflimitation, a history of past wireless communication sessionsestablished between a client system and one or more beacons of athird-party content provider. The social-networking system may generatea report including any number of statistics (i.e., business insights)generated based on the aggregated clientele information. For example,the report may include an average customer age and a number of customerswho are first time visitors to the third-party content provider. Inparticular embodiments, the report may include individual profiles(e.g., showing a picture and name) for the users whose client systemsare presently in a wireless communication session with the beacon (i.e.,the users who are currently at the third-party content providerlocation).

In particular embodiments, a social-networking system may customize andsend an advertisement to a particular user based on thesocial-networking information and session information of the user. Forexample, a user's session information may indicate that a user was afrequent patron of a particular restaurant but has not been there in afew months and may send the user's client system an advertisement (e.g.,a coupon) in order to attract the user's patronage once again. Asocial-networking system, or third-party content provider via thesocial-networking system, may target users for a particularadvertisement based on interactions with beacons by a user's socialconnections. For example, if a number of a user's social connectionshave checked-in at a particular pub, the social-networking system maysend the user an advertisement for the pub.

In particular embodiments, a social-networking system may customize andprovide a notification to a user of an online social network based onsocial-networking information (e.g., location information) and sessioninformation of the user. For example, a user's location information mayindicate that the user is nearby a particular restaurant, and thesocial-networking system may send a notification to the user's clientsystem indicating that he is near the restaurant and providinginformation about the restaurant (e.g., menu and reviews). Thesocial-networking system may also customize notifications based onsocial-networking and session information of the user's socialconnections, For example, the notification may specify friends of theuser who are already at the restaurant (e.g., based on sessioninformation for the friends received from a beacon located at therestaurant). Notifications may also provide arrival and departureinformation pertaining to the user's social connections (e.g., anotification indicating that John left the restaurant fifteen minutesago). In particular embodiments, the social-networking system may usesession information of a user to determine that he is located at aparticular bar and provide a notification to the user prompting him toinvite other users to join him and providing a list of suggestedinvitees. For example, the social-networking system may determine thatsocial connections of the user who are nearby the bar should besuggested invitees. The social-networking system may further refine whoit pushes as a suggested invitee based on social-networking informationof the other users (e.g., based on preferences or affinities of theother users).

The embodiments disclosed above are only examples, and the scope of thisdisclosure is not limited to them. Particular embodiments may includeall, some, or none of the components, elements, features, functions,operations, or steps of the embodiments disclosed above. Embodimentsaccording to the invention are in particular disclosed in the attachedclaims directed to a method, a storage medium, a system and a computerprogram product, wherein any feature mentioned in one claim category,e.g., method, can be claimed in another claim category, e.g., system, aswell. The dependencies or references back in the attached claims arechosen for formal reasons only. However any subject matter resultingfrom a deliberate reference back to any previous claims (in particularmultiple dependencies) can be claimed as well, so that any combinationof claims and the features thereof are disclosed and can be claimedregardless of the dependencies chosen in the attached claims. Thesubject-matter which can be claimed comprises not only the combinationsof features as set out in the attached claims but also any othercombination of features in the claims, wherein each feature mentioned inthe claims can be combined with any other feature or combination ofother features in the claims. Furthermore, any of the embodiments andfeatures described or depicted herein can be claimed in a separate claimand/or in any combination with any embodiment or feature described ordepicted herein or with any of the features of the attached claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example network environment associated with asocial-networking system.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example social graph.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example beacon environment associated with asocial-networking system.

FIG. 4A illustrates an example report view of an interface displayed ona third-party system.

FIG. 4B illustrates an example profile view of an interface displayed ona third-party system.

FIG. 4C illustrates an example detailed profile view of an interfacedisplayed on a third-party system.

FIG. 5 illustrates example ads of a third-party content providerdisplayed in interface of a client system.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example method for sending customized third-partycontent to a client system.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example method for sending a report to athird-party system.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example method for sending a customizedadvertisement to a client system.

FIG. 9A illustrates an example notification displayed on a lock screenof a client system.

FIG. 9B illustrates an example notification displayed in an interface ofa client system.

FIG. 9C illustrates an example notification displayed in an interface ofa client system.

FIG. 9D illustrates an example page corresponding to a third-partycontent provider displayed in an interface of a client system.

FIG. 9E illustrates an example page corresponding to a third-partycontent provider displayed in an interface of a client system.

FIG. 10A illustrates an example notification displayed on a lock screenof a client system.

FIG. 10B illustrates an example notification displayed in an interfaceof a client system.

FIG. 10C illustrates an example page corresponding to a third-partycontent provider displayed in an interface of a client system.

FIG. 11A illustrates an example notification displayed on a lock screenof a client system.

FIG. 11B illustrates an example notification displayed in an interfaceof a client system.

FIG. 11C illustrates an example notification and a page corresponding toa third-party content provider displayed in an interface of a clientsystem.

FIG. 11D illustrates an example notification and a page corresponding toa third-party content provider displayed in an interface of a clientsystem.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example self-portrait interface displayed on aclient system.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example beacon in a real-world environment.

FIG. 14 illustrates an example method for sending a notification to aclient system.

FIG. 15 illustrates an example computer system.

DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS System Overview

FIG. 1 illustrates an example network environment 100 associated with asocial-networking system. Network environment 100 includes a clientsystem 130, a social-networking system 160, and a third-party system 170connected to each other by a network 110. Although FIG. 1 illustrates aparticular arrangement of client system 130, social-networking system160, third-party system 170, and network 110, this disclosurecontemplates any suitable arrangement of client system 130,social-networking system 160, third-party system 170, and network 110.As an example and not by way of limitation, two or more of client system130, social-networking system 160, and third-party system 170 may beconnected to each other directly, bypassing network 110. As anotherexample, two or more of client system 130, social-networking system 160,and third-party system 170 may be physically or logically co-locatedwith each other in whole or in part. Moreover, although FIG. 1illustrates a particular number of client systems 130, social-networkingsystems 160, third-party systems 170, and networks 110, this disclosurecontemplates any suitable number of client systems 130,social-networking systems 160, third-party systems 170, and networks110. As an example and not by way of limitation, network environment 100may include multiple client system 130, social-networking systems 160,third-party systems 170, and networks 110.

This disclosure contemplates any suitable network 110. As an example andnot by way of limitation, one or more portions of network 110 mayinclude an ad hoc network, an intranet, an extranet, a virtual privatenetwork (VPN), a local area network (LAN), a wireless LAN (WLAN), a widearea network (WAN), a wireless WAN (WWAN), a metropolitan area network(MAN), a portion of the Internet, a portion of the Public SwitchedTelephone Network (PSTN), a cellular telephone network, or a combinationof two or more of these. Network 110 may include one or more networks110.

Links 150 may connect client system 130, social-networking system 160,and third-party system 170 to communication network 110 or to eachother. This disclosure contemplates any suitable links 150. Inparticular embodiments, one or more links 150 include one or morewireline (such as for example Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) or Data OverCable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS)), wireless (such as forexample Wi-Fi or Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access(WiMAX)), or optical (such as for example Synchronous Optical Network(SONET) or Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH)) links. In particularembodiments, one or more links 150 each include an ad hoc network, anintranet, an extranet, a VPN, a LAN, a WLAN, a WAN, a WWAN, a MAN, aportion of the Internet, a portion of the PSTN, a cellulartechnology-based network, a satellite communications technology-basednetwork, another link 150, or a combination of two or more such links150. Links 150 need not necessarily be the same throughout networkenvironment 100. One or more first links 150 may differ in one or morerespects from one or more second links 150.

In particular embodiments, client system 130 may be an electronic deviceincluding hardware, software, or embedded logic components or acombination of two or more such components and capable of carrying outthe appropriate functionalities implemented or supported by clientsystem 130. As an example and not by way of limitation, a client system130 may include a computer system such as a desktop computer, notebookor laptop computer, netbook, a tablet computer, e-book reader, GPSdevice, camera, personal digital assistant (PDA), handheld electronicdevice, cellular telephone, smartphone, other suitable electronicdevice, or any suitable combination thereof. This disclosurecontemplates any suitable client systems 130. A client system 130 mayenable a network user at client system 130 to access network 110. Aclient system 130 may enable its user to communicate with other users atother client systems 130.

In particular embodiments, client system 130 may include a web browser132, such as MICROSOFT INTERNET EXPLORER, GOOGLE CHROME or MOZILLAFIREFOX, and may have one or more add-ons, plug-ins, or otherextensions, such as TOOLBAR or YAHOO TOOLBAR. A user at client system130 may enter a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) or other addressdirecting the web browser 132 to a particular server (such as server162, or a server associated with a third-party system 170), and the webbrowser 132 may generate a Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) requestand communicate the HTTP request to server. The server may accept theHTTP request and communicate to client system 130 one or more Hyper TextMarkup Language (HTML) files responsive to the HTTP request. Clientsystem 130 may render a webpage based on the HTML files from the serverfor presentation to the user. This disclosure contemplates any suitablewebpage files. As an example and not by way of limitation, webpages mayrender from HTML files, Extensible Hyper Text Markup Language (XHTML)files, or Extensible Markup Language (XML) files, according toparticular needs. Such pages may also execute scripts such as, forexample and without limitation, those written in JAVASCRIPT, JAVA,MICROSOFT SILVERLIGHT, combinations of markup language and scripts suchas AJAX (Asynchronous JAVASCRIPT and XML), and the like. Herein,reference to a webpage encompasses one or more corresponding webpagefiles (which a browser may use to render the webpage) and vice versa,where appropriate.

In particular embodiments, social-networking system 160 may be anetwork-addressable computing system that can host an online socialnetwork. Social-networking system 160 may generate, store, receive, andsend social-networking data, such as, for example, user-profile data,concept-profile data, social-graph information, or other suitable datarelated to the online social network. Social-networking system 160 maybe accessed by the other components of network environment 100 eitherdirectly or via network 110. In particular embodiments,social-networking system 160 may include one or more servers 162. Eachserver 162 may be a unitary server or a distributed server spanningmultiple computers or multiple datacenters. Servers 162 may be ofvarious types, such as, for example and without limitation, web server,news server, mail server, message server, advertising server, fileserver, application server, exchange server, database server, proxyserver, another server suitable for performing functions or processesdescribed herein, or any combination thereof. In particular embodiments,each server 162 may include hardware, software, or embedded logiccomponents or a combination of two or more such components for carryingout the appropriate functionalities implemented or supported by server162. In particular embodiments, social-networking system 160 may includeone or more data stores 164. Data stores 164 may be used to storevarious types of information. In particular embodiments, the informationstored in data stores 164 may be organized according to specific datastructures. In particular embodiments, each data store 164 may be arelational, columnar, correlation, or other suitable database. Althoughthis disclosure describes or illustrates particular types of databases,this disclosure contemplates any suitable types of databases. Particularembodiments may provide interfaces that enable a client system 130, asocial-networking system 160, or a third-party system 170 to manage,retrieve, modify, add, or delete, the information stored in data store164.

In particular embodiments, social-networking system 160 may store one ormore social graphs in one or more data stores 164. In particularembodiments, a social graph may include multiple nodes—which may includemultiple user nodes (each corresponding to a particular user) ormultiple concept nodes (each corresponding to a particular concept)—andmultiple edges connecting the nodes. Social-networking system 160 mayprovide users of the online social network the ability to communicateand interact with other users. In particular embodiments, users may jointhe online social network via social-networking system 160 and then addconnections (e.g., relationships) to a number of other users ofsocial-networking system 160 to whom they want to be connected. Herein,the term “friend” may refer to any other user of social-networkingsystem 160 with whom a user has formed a connection, association, orrelationship via social-networking system 160.

In particular embodiments, social-networking system 160 may provideusers with the ability to take actions on various types of items orobjects, supported by social-networking system 160. As an example andnot by way of limitation, the items and objects may include groups orsocial networks to which users of social-networking system 160 maybelong, events or calendar entries in which a user might be interested,computer-based applications that a user may use, transactions that allowusers to buy or sell items via the service, interactions withadvertisements that a user may perform, or other suitable items orobjects. A user may interact with anything that is capable of beingrepresented in social-networking system 160 or by an external system ofthird-party system 170, which is separate from social-networking system160 and coupled to social-networking system 160 via a network 110.

In particular embodiments, social-networking system 160 may be capableof linking a variety of entities. As an example and not by way oflimitation, social-networking system 160 may enable users to interactwith each other as well as receive content from third-party systems 170or other entities, or to allow users to interact with these entitiesthrough an application programming interfaces (API) or othercommunication channels.

In particular embodiments, a third-party system 170 may include one ormore types of servers, one or more data stores, one or more interfaces,including but not limited to APIs, one or more web services, one or morecontent sources, one or more networks, or any other suitable components,e.g., with which servers may communicate. A third-party system 170 maybe operated by a different entity from an entity operatingsocial-networking system 160. In particular embodiments, however,social-networking system 160 and third-party systems 170 may operate inconjunction with each other to provide social-networking services tousers of social-networking system 160 or third-party systems 170. Inthis sense, social-networking system 160 may provide a platform, orbackbone, which other systems, such as third-party systems 170, may useto provide social-networking services and functionality to users acrossthe Internet.

In particular embodiments, a third-party system 170 may include athird-party content object provider. A third-party content objectprovider may include one or more sources of content objects, which maybe communicated to a client system 130. As an example and not by way oflimitation, content objects may include information regarding things oractivities of interest to the user, such as, for example, movie showtimes, movie reviews, restaurant reviews, restaurant menus, productinformation and reviews, or other suitable information. As anotherexample and not by way of limitation, content objects may includeincentive content objects, such as coupons, discount tickets, giftcertificates, or other suitable incentive objects.

In particular embodiments, social-networking system 160 also includesuser-generated content objects, which may enhance a user's interactionswith social-networking system 160. User-generated content may includeanything a user can add, upload, send, or “post” to social-networkingsystem 160. As an example and not by way of limitation, a usercommunicates posts to social-networking system 160 from a client system130. Posts may include data such as status updates or other textualdata, location information, photos, videos, links, music or othersimilar data or media. Content may also be added to social-networkingsystem 160 by a third-party through a “communication channel,” such as anewsfeed or stream.

In particular embodiments, social-networking system 160 may include avariety of servers, sub-systems, programs, modules, logs, and datastores. In particular embodiments, social-networking system 160 mayinclude one or more of the following: a web server, action logger,API-request server, relevance-and-ranking engine, content-objectclassifier, notification controller, action log,third-party-content-object-exposure log, inference module,authorization/privacy server, search module, advertisement-targetingmodule, user-interface module, user-profile store, connection store,third-party content store, or location store. Social-networking system160 may also include suitable components such as network interfaces,security mechanisms, load balancers, failover servers,management-and-network-operations consoles, other suitable components,or any suitable combination thereof. In particular embodiments,social-networking system 160 may include one or more user-profile storesfor storing user profiles. A user profile may include, for example,biographic information, demographic information, behavioral information,social information, or other types of descriptive information, such aswork experience, educational history, hobbies or preferences, interests,affinities, or location. Interest information may include interestsrelated to one or more categories. Categories may be general orspecific. As an example and not by way of limitation, if a user “likes”an article about a brand of shoes the category may be the brand, or thegeneral category of “shoes” or “clothing.” A connection store may beused for storing connection information about users. The connectioninformation may indicate users who have similar or common workexperience, group memberships, hobbies, educational history, or are inany way related or share common attributes. The connection informationmay also include user-defined connections between different users andcontent (both internal and external). A web server may be used forlinking social-networking system 160 to one or more client systems 130or one or more third-party system 170 via network 110. The web servermay include a mail server or other messaging functionality for receivingand routing messages between social-networking system 160 and one ormore client systems 130. An API-request server may allow a third-partysystem 170 to access information from social-networking system 160 bycalling one or more APIs. An action logger may be used to receivecommunications from a web server about a user's actions on or offsocial-networking system 160. In conjunction with the action log, athird-party-content-object log may be maintained of user exposures tothird-party-content objects. A notification controller may provideinformation regarding content objects to a client system 130.Information may be pushed to a client system 130 as notifications, orinformation may be pulled from client system 130 responsive to a requestreceived from client system 130. Authorization servers may be used toenforce one or more privacy settings of the users of social-networkingsystem 160. A privacy setting of a user determines how particularinformation associated with a user can be shared. The authorizationserver may allow users to opt in to or opt out of having their actionslogged by social-networking system 160 or shared with other systems(e.g., third-party system 170), such as, for example, by settingappropriate privacy settings. Third-party-content-object stores may beused to store content objects received from third parties, such as athird-party system 170. Location stores may be used for storing locationinformation received from client systems 130 associated with users.Advertisement-pricing modules may combine social information, thecurrent time, location information, or other suitable information toprovide relevant advertisements, in the form of notifications, to auser.

Social Graphs

FIG. 2 illustrates example social graph 200. In particular embodiments,social-networking system 160 may store one or more social graphs 200 inone or more data stores. In particular embodiments, social graph 200 mayinclude multiple nodes—which may include multiple user nodes 202 ormultiple concept nodes 204—and multiple edges 206 connecting the nodes.Example social graph 200 illustrated in FIG. 2 is shown, for didacticpurposes, in a two-dimensional visual map representation. In particularembodiments, a social-networking system 160, client system 130, orthird-party system 170 may access social graph 200 and relatedsocial-graph information for suitable applications. The nodes and edgesof social graph 200 may be stored as data objects, for example, in adata store (such as a social-graph database). Such a data store mayinclude one or more searchable or queryable indexes of nodes or edges ofsocial graph 200.

In particular embodiments, a user node 202 may correspond to a user ofsocial-networking system 160. As an example and not by way oflimitation, a user may be an individual (human user), an entity (e.g.,an enterprise, business, or third-party application), or a group (e.g.,of individuals or entities) that interacts or communicates with or oversocial-networking system 160. In particular embodiments, when a userregisters for an account with social-networking system 160,social-networking system 160 may create a user node 202 corresponding tothe user, and store the user node 202 in one or more data stores. Usersand user nodes 202 described herein may, where appropriate, refer toregistered users and user nodes 202 associated with registered users. Inaddition or as an alternative, users and user nodes 202 described hereinmay, where appropriate, refer to users that have not registered withsocial-networking system 160. In particular embodiments, a user node 202may be associated with information provided by a user or informationgathered by various systems, including social-networking system 160. Asan example and not by way of limitation, a user may provide his or hername, profile picture, contact information, birth date, sex, maritalstatus, family status, employment, education background, preferences,interests, or other demographic information. In particular embodiments,a user node 202 may be associated with one or more data objectscorresponding to information associated with a user. In particularembodiments, a user node 202 may correspond to one or more webpages.

In particular embodiments, a concept node 204 may correspond to aconcept. As an example and not by way of limitation, a concept maycorrespond to a place (such as, for example, a movie theater,restaurant, landmark, or city); a website (such as, for example, awebsite associated with social-network system 160 or a third-partywebsite associated with a web-application server); an entity (such as,for example, a person, business, group, sports team, or celebrity); aresource (such as, for example, an audio file, video file, digitalphoto, text file, structured document, or application) which may belocated within social-networking system 160 or on an external server,such as a web-application server; real or intellectual property (suchas, for example, a sculpture, painting, movie, game, song, idea,photograph, or written work); a game; an activity; an idea or theory;another suitable concept; or two or more such concepts. A concept node204 may be associated with information of a concept provided by a useror information gathered by various systems, including social-networkingsystem 160. As an example and not by way of limitation, information of aconcept may include a name or a title; one or more images (e.g., animage of the cover page of a book); a location (e.g., an address or ageographical location); a website (which may be associated with a URL);contact information (e.g., a phone number or an email address); othersuitable concept information; or any suitable combination of suchinformation. In particular embodiments, a concept node 204 may beassociated with one or more data objects corresponding to informationassociated with concept node 204. In particular embodiments, a conceptnode 204 may correspond to one or more webpages.

In particular embodiments, a node in social graph 200 may represent orbe represented by a webpage (which may be referred to as a “profilepage”). Profile pages may be hosted by or accessible tosocial-networking system 160. Profile pages may also be hosted onthird-party websites associated with a third-party server 170. As anexample and not by way of limitation, a profile page corresponding to aparticular external webpage may be the particular external webpage andthe profile page may correspond to a particular concept node 204.Profile pages may be viewable by all or a selected subset of otherusers. As an example and not by way of limitation, a user node 202 mayhave a corresponding user-profile page in which the corresponding usermay add content, make declarations, or otherwise express himself orherself. As another example and not by way of limitation, a concept node204 may have a corresponding concept-profile page in which one or moreusers may add content, make declarations, or express themselves,particularly in relation to the concept corresponding to concept node204.

In particular embodiments, a concept node 204 may represent athird-party webpage or resource hosted by a third-party system 170. Thethird-party webpage or resource may include, among other elements,content, a selectable or other icon, or other inter-actable object(which may be implemented, for example, in JavaScript, AJAX, or PHPcodes) representing an action or activity. As an example and not by wayof limitation, a third-party webpage may include a selectable icon suchas “like,” “check-in,” “eat,” “recommend,” or another suitable action oractivity. A user viewing the third-party webpage may perform an actionby selecting one of the icons (e.g., “check-in”), causing a clientsystem 130 to send to social-networking system 160 a message indicatingthe user's action. In response to the message, social-networking system160 may create an edge (e.g., a check-in-type edge) between a user node202 corresponding to the user and a concept node 204 corresponding tothe third-party webpage or resource and store edge 206 in one or moredata stores.

In particular embodiments, a pair of nodes in social graph 200 may beconnected to each other by one or more edges 206. An edge 206 connectinga pair of nodes may represent a relationship between the pair of nodes.In particular embodiments, an edge 206 may include or represent one ormore data objects or attributes corresponding to the relationshipbetween a pair of nodes. As an example and not by way of limitation, afirst user may indicate that a second user is a “friend” of the firstuser. In response to this indication, social-networking system 160 maysend a “friend request” to the second user. If the second user confirmsthe “friend request,” social-networking system 160 may create an edge206 connecting the first user's user node 202 to the second user's usernode 202 in social graph 200 and store edge 206 as social-graphinformation in one or more of data stores 164. In the example of FIG. 2,social graph 200 includes an edge 206 indicating a friend relationbetween user nodes 202 of user “A” and user “B” and an edge indicating afriend relation between user nodes 202 of user “C” and user “B.”Although this disclosure describes or illustrates particular edges 206with particular attributes connecting particular user nodes 202, thisdisclosure contemplates any suitable edges 206 with any suitableattributes connecting user nodes 202. As an example and not by way oflimitation, an edge 206 may represent a friendship, family relationship,business or employment relationship, fan relationship (including, e.g.,liking, etc.), follower relationship, visitor relationship (including,e.g., accessing, viewing, checking-in, sharing, etc.), subscriberrelationship, superior/subordinate relationship, reciprocalrelationship, non-reciprocal relationship, another suitable type ofrelationship, or two or more such relationships. Moreover, although thisdisclosure generally describes nodes as being connected, this disclosurealso describes users or concepts as being connected. Herein, referencesto users or concepts being connected may, where appropriate, refer tothe nodes corresponding to those users or concepts being connected insocial graph 200 by one or more edges 206.

In particular embodiments, an edge 206 between a user node 202 and aconcept node 204 may represent a particular action or activity performedby a user associated with user node 202 toward a concept associated witha concept node 204. As an example and not by way of limitation, asillustrated in FIG. 2, a user may “like,” “attended,” “played,”“listened,” “cooked,” “worked at,” or “watched” a concept, each of whichmay correspond to an edge type or subtype. A concept-profile pagecorresponding to a concept node 204 may include, for example, aselectable “check in” icon (such as, for example, a clickable “check in”icon) or a selectable “add to favorites” icon. Similarly, after a userclicks these icons, social-networking system 160 may create a “favorite”edge or a “check in” edge in response to a user's action correspondingto a respective action. As another example and not by way of limitation,a user (user “C”) may listen to a particular song (“Imagine”) using aparticular application (SPOTIFY, which is an online music application).In this case, social-networking system 160 may create a “listened” edge206 and a “used” edge (as illustrated in FIG. 2) between user nodes 202corresponding to the user and concept nodes 204 corresponding to thesong and application to indicate that the user listened to the song andused the application. Moreover, social-networking system 160 may createa “played” edge 206 (as illustrated in FIG. 2) between concept nodes 204corresponding to the song and the application to indicate that theparticular song was played by the particular application. In this case,“played” edge 206 corresponds to an action performed by an externalapplication (SPOTIFY) on an external audio file (the song “Imagine”).Although this disclosure describes particular edges 206 with particularattributes connecting user nodes 202 and concept nodes 204, thisdisclosure contemplates any suitable edges 206 with any suitableattributes connecting user nodes 202 and concept nodes 204. Moreover,although this disclosure describes edges between a user node 202 and aconcept node 204 representing a single relationship, this disclosurecontemplates edges between a user node 202 and a concept node 204representing one or more relationships. As an example and not by way oflimitation, an edge 206 may represent both that a user likes and hasused at a particular concept. Alternatively, another edge 206 mayrepresent each type of relationship (or multiples of a singlerelationship) between a user node 202 and a concept node 204 (asillustrated in FIG. 2 between user node 202 for user “E” and conceptnode 204 for “SPOTIFY”).

In particular embodiments, social-networking system 160 may create anedge 206 between a user node 202 and a concept node 204 in social graph200. As an example and not by way of limitation, a user viewing aconcept-profile page (such as, for example, by using a web browser or aspecial-purpose application hosted by the user's client system 130) mayindicate that he or she likes the concept represented by the conceptnode 204 by clicking or selecting a “Like” icon, which may cause theuser's client system 130 to send to social-networking system 160 amessage indicating the user's liking of the concept associated with theconcept-profile page. In response to the message, social-networkingsystem 160 may create an edge 206 between user node 202 associated withthe user and concept node 204, as illustrated by “like” edge 206 betweenthe user and concept node 204. In particular embodiments,social-networking system 160 may store an edge 206 in one or more datastores. In particular embodiments, an edge 206 may be automaticallyformed by social-networking system 160 in response to a particular useraction. As an example and not by way of limitation, if a first useruploads a picture, watches a movie, or listens to a song, an edge 206may be formed between user node 202 corresponding to the first user andconcept nodes 204 corresponding to those concepts. Although thisdisclosure describes forming particular edges 206 in particular manners,this disclosure contemplates forming any suitable edges 206 in anysuitable manner.

Establishing Wireless Communication Sessions with Beacons

Particular embodiments facilitate the exchange of information between auser and a third-party content provider via a beacon or other suitablegeographic-positioning-capable devices or systems associated with thethird-party content provider. As used herein, beacons may be any staticor dynamic devices suitable for establishing and maintaining a wirelesscommunication session between the beacon and any number of clientsystems proximate to the beacon. Beacons may be communicatively-coupledto at least one third-party content provider (i.e., a beacon holder) andable to communicate wirelessly with a social-networking system. Beaconsmay send and receive wireless communications via, for example,radio-frequency identification, near-field communication, ultrasonicwaves, BLUETOOTH, BLUETOOTH low energy, IBEACON protocols, or any othersuitable wireless communication method, particularly short-rangewireless communication methods (e.g., less than approximately 300 feet).Beacons may be touch-sensitive so as to detect when a user or clientsystem makes contact with the surface of the beacon and to establish awireless communication session in response to the detected touch.Beacons may have any of the hardware or software features of the typesdescribed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/460,886, titled“Bluetooth Crowd-Sourced Triangulation,” filed 15 Aug. 2014; U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/460,880, titled “Bluetooth Transmission SecurityPattern,” filed 15 Aug. 2014; and U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/460,891, titled “Bluetooth Beacon Protocol,” filed 15 Aug. 2014; U.S.patent application Ser. No. 13/416,975, titled “Dynamic Processor DutyCycle Determination Based on Geographic Positioning Signals,” filed 9Mar. 2012; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/417,013, titled “LocationTracking for Geographic Positioning Capable Devices,” filed 9 Mar. 2012;and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/431,842, titled “DynamicGeographic Beacons for Geographic Positioning Capable Devices,” filed 27Mar. 2012, each of which is incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety. A third-party content provider may be associated with multiplebeacons, and each beacon may be fixed, removably or permanently, at alocation within a place of the third-party content provider. Forexample, the third-party content provider may be a grocery store, andthere may be a beacon at the end of each aisle and at each check-outline. When a user's client system comes into range of a beacon or makescontact with a beacon (e.g., the user taps the beacon with her clientsystem), a wireless communication session (or other suitableassociation) may be established between the client system and thebeacon. The wireless communication session may be automaticallyestablished or an additional level of confirmation may be requiredbefore the wireless communication session is established between theclient system and a beacon. Although this disclosure describesestablishing a wireless communication session in a particular manner,this disclosure contemplates establishing any suitable wirelesscommunication session in any suitable manner.

In particular embodiments, once the wireless communication session hasbeen established between a beacon and a user's client system,social-networking information of the user may be provided to athird-party content provider with which the beacon is associated. Forexample and not by way of limitation, social-networking information ofthe user may include demographic information, geographic information,user preferences, any other suitable social-networking information, orany combination thereof. The social-networking information may be sentby the social-networking system to the third-party system directly orvia the beacon. After receiving the social-networking information, thethird-party content provider may tailor content to a particular userbased on the received social-networking information. For example and notby way of limitation, in response to receiving social-networkinginformation indicating that it is a user's birthday, a third-partycontent provider (e.g., a coffee shop) may send to the user's clientsystem, via the beacon, an offer for a birthday gift (e.g., a free cupof coffee). As another example, in response to receivingsocial-networking information including a user's purchase history, whichindicates that the user always buys a particular product (e.g., oxfords)when patronizing the third-party content provider (e.g., a shoe store),the third-party content provider may send directly to the user's clientsystem information about new products relevant to the user's buyinghabits (e.g., a new style of oxfords that it only recently startedcarrying). As another example, the third-party system may sendinformation for the user to the social-networking system, which may, inturn, send the information to the user's client system (e.g., thesocial-networking system may present the information on a pagecorresponding to the third-party content provider). Although thisdisclosure describes providing social-networking information andthird-party content in a particular manner, this disclosure contemplatesproviding any suitable social-networking information and any suitablethird-party content in any suitable manner.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example beacon environment 300 associated with asocial-networking system 160. Beacon environment 300 includes a beacon310, a client system 130, a social-networking system 160, and athird-party system 170, each connected to a network 110. Client system130 and social-networking system 160 are shown as connected to eachother by beacon 310. Although FIG. 3 illustrates a particulararrangement of beacon 310, client system 130, social-networking system160, third-party system 170, and network 110, this disclosurecontemplates any suitable arrangement of beacon 310, client system 130,social-networking system 160, third-party system 170, and network 110.As an example and not by way of limitation, client system 130 andsocial-networking system 160 may be connected to each other directly orvia network 110, bypassing beacon 310. Although FIG. 3 illustrates onebeacon 310, there may be any suitable number of beacons 310. Asdescribed above, in connection with FIG. 1, links 150 may connect beacon310, client system 130, social-networking system 160, and third-partysystem 170 to network 110 or to each other.

In particular embodiments, a wireless communication session (or othersuitable association) may be established between client system 130 andbeacon 310. Beacon 310 may be situated at a designated location within aplace (e.g., a business) of a third-party content provider associatedwith third-party system 170. For example, beacon 310 may be positionedat an entrance of a third-party content provider's store. When a clientsystem 130 comes within a wireless communication range of beacon 310(i.e., a user associated with client system 130 moves into range ofbeacon 310), third-party system 170 may send, via beacon 310, a requestto associate with client system 130. Third-party system 170 may becommunicatively coupled to beacon 310. The request to associate may be arequest to establish a wireless communication session between beacon 310and client system 130. In order for the request to associate to be sent,client system 130 may need to be proximate to beacon 310. As usedherein, proximate to the beacon refers to within a predetermineddistance of beacon 310. As an example and not by way of limitation,client system 130 may need to be inside the third-party contentprovider's business, at which beacon 310 is located, before the requestto associate may be sent. It will be understood that the request toassociate is described herein as being sent by third-party system 170,via beacon 310, for illustrative purposes and not by way of limitationand that the request to associate may be sent by any suitablecomponents, including, for example, beacon 310, third-party system 170,client system 130, and social-networking system 160.

In particular embodiments, the third-party content provider may beassociated with a plurality of beacons 310, and each beacon 310 may beat a particular location within a place. For example, the third-partycontent provider may be a clothing retail store, and it may have abeacon 310 in each department (e.g., three beacons 310, one in each ofthe women's, men's, and children's departments). If client system 130 isproximate to more than one beacon 310 (e.g., beacons 310 haveoverlapping ranges), various techniques may be used to determine withwhich of the beacons 310 client system 130 should be associated (e.g.,by establishing a wireless communication session) or to confirm aproposed wireless communication session with a particular beacon 310. Asan example and not by way of limitation, techniques for selecting one ofbeacons 310 may include user choice (e.g., user input at client system130 indicating proximity to a particular beacon 310), probability (e.g.,probabilistic determination that user should be associated with aparticular beacon 310), location triangulation (e.g., triangulatingprecise position of client system 130, beacon 310, or both), otherlocation services of client system 130 (e.g., network location), andconfirmation via connections in social graph 200 (e.g., based onwireless communication sessions of connections). A request to associatemay need to be complemented by one of these techniques before a wirelesscommunication session may be established between beacon 310 and clientsystem 130. For example, client system 130 may be detected by multiplebeacons 310, and social-networking system 160 may determine that one ormore other users, each within a threshold degree of separation from theuser of client system 130 in social graph 200, are associated withclient systems 130 that are each in a wireless communication sessionwith a particular beacon 310. Social-networking system 160 may thendetermine that client system 130 should be in a wireless communicationsession with the same particular beacon 310. As another example and notby way of limitation, user input at client system 130 may be used toconfirm or to permit a wireless communication session with beacon 310 orto confirm with which of beacons 310 a wireless communication sessionshould be established. Third-party system 170 (or social-networkingsystem 160) may send, directly or via beacon 310, a prompt to clientsystem 130, asking a user to confirm, permit or deny a proposed wirelesscommunication session with a particular beacon 310. As an example andnot by way of limitation, third-party system 170 (or social-networkingsystem 160) may send, directly or via beacon 310, a prompt to clientsystem 130 of a first user, asking a user to confirm a proposed wirelesscommunication session pending between a client system 130 of a seconduser and a beacon 310.

In particular embodiments, a beacon 310 that has been stolen, spoofed,or otherwise moved without authorization may be detected based onconfirmed wireless communication sessions established between one ormore client systems 130 and the stolen or spoofed beacon 310. As anexample and not by way of limitation, if a wireless communicationsession between beacon 310 and client system 130 has been establishedand confirmed (e.g., via one or more of the above-described techniques),but the wireless communication session indicates that beacon 310 is at alocation other than its designated location, then beacon 310 may bedetermined to be stolen or spoofed. Detecting a stolen or spoofed beacon310 may be based on crowd-sourced information. For example, beacon 310may be determined to be stolen or spoofed only after a threshold numberof client systems 130 are in confirmed wireless communication sessionswith beacon 310 at a wrong location. Once detected, the theft or spoofof beacon 310 may be reported to a page administrator for a pageassociated with beacon 310 (e.g., a page hosted by social-networkingsystem 160).

In particular embodiments, a wireless communication session betweenbeacon 310 and client system 130 may be established in response tobeacon 310 being tapped by, or otherwise physically contacted by, clientsystem 130. A user may specify in a set of permissions whether wirelesscommunication sessions may be established via tapping beacon 310. A usermay also specify, in a set of permissions, beacons 310 with which awireless communication session may be automatically established (i.e.,no further action need be taken by client system 130 to confirm or toallow the establishment of the wireless communication session) and forhow long the permissions are valid (e.g., the wireless communicationsession may be automatically established only for a week orindefinitely).

Provision of Social-Networking Information to a Third-Party System

Once a wireless communication session has been established betweenclient system 130 of a first user and beacon 310, social-networkingsystem 160 may provide a set of social-networking information tothird-party system 170, client systems 130 of other users (e.g., socialconnections of the first user in social graph 200), other beacons 310,other social-networking systems 160, any other suitable recipient, orany combination thereof. Social-networking system 160 may directly sharea set of social-networking information with a recipient, or theinformation may be shared by way of beacon 310. It will be understoodthat although the set of social-networking information is described asbeing provided by social-networking system 160, this is merely forillustrative purposes, not by way of limitation, and that any suitablecomponents, devices, or systems may provide the set of social-networkinginformation 160, including, for example one or more beacons 310.

Social-networking information of a user may include, for example and notby way of limitation, demographic information (e.g., age, gender,nationality, race, ethnicity, and locality), biographic information(e.g., name, picture, birthday, and astrological sign), preferences(e.g., music, book, movie, and food preferences), payment credentials,purchase history, loyalty points or credits, allergies and other medicalinformation, social-graph information (e.g., social connections within athreshold degree of separation in social graph 200 and social-networkinginformation of those connections), any other information stored in aprofile of the user on social-networking system 160, any other suitableinformation pertaining to the user, or any combination thereof. As anexample and not by way of limitation, the set of social-networkinginformation received by third-party system 170 may include a connectionbetween a first node in social graph 200 corresponding to a user ofclient system 130 and a second node corresponding to the third-partycontent provider. The connection between the first node and the secondnode may represent a particular social-networking action taken by theuser with respect to the third-party content provider (e.g., the userhas “liked” or checked-in at a page or event associated with thethird-party content provider on an online social network). As anotherexample and not by way of limitation, the set of social-networkinginformation received by third-party system 170 may include identifiersof one or more second users who are connected to a first user of clientsystem 130 in social graph 200 by a threshold degree of separation(e.g., first-degree connections may be “friends” of the first user).

In particular embodiments, a second set of social-networking informationmay be sent by social-networking system 160 and received by third-partysystem 170. The second set of social-networking information may includesocial-networking information of one or more second users of the onlinesocial network, each of whom is connected to the first user of clientsystem 130 by a threshold degree of separation. The second set ofsocial-networking information may include social-networking informationof the second users who are associated with client systems 130 that arelocated within wireless communication range of beacon 310. As an exampleand not by way of limitation, social-networking system 160, third-partysystem 170, or beacon 310 may specify at least one radius delineating adistance around beacon 310, and the second set of social-networkinginformation may be of second users who are associated with clientsystems 130 that are located within the at least one radius of beacon310.

In particular embodiments, the particular set of social-networkinginformation provided or received may be tailored to the particularrecipient. The request to associate may specify at least one attributeof the third-party content provider. The particular social-networkinginformation provided to third-party system 170 may be selected based onthe at least one attribute of the third-party content provider. Theattribute may be a type of good purveyed or service rendered by thethird-party content provider, and the social-networking informationprovided may include user preferences associated with the type of goodor service. As an example and not by way of limitation, an attribute fora third-party content provider may indicate that it is a restaurant, andsocial-networking information sent to third-party system 170 may includea list of the user's allergies; whereas, an attribute for a third-partycontent provider may indicate that it is a clothing retailestablishment, and social-networking information sent to third-partysystem 170 may include the user's clothing size and favorite color.

In particular embodiments, the particular set of social-networkinginformation of a user that is sent or received may be subject to a setof permissions (e.g., privacy preferences) specified by the user orother restrictions imposed by the online social network. Thesocial-networking information of a user may be automatically shared withbeacon 310 or third-party system 170 in accordance with a user-specifiedset of permissions. For example, a user may specify that sharing ispermitted for a particular branch of a third-party content provider orfor all branches of the third-party content provider (e.g., sharing maybe permitted for a local coffee shop or across all coffee shops in afranchise). As another example and not by way of limitation, a user mayspecify that sharing is permitted based on social-graph information(e.g., sharing may be permissive with entities for which the user hasindicated an affinity via a “like,” “follow,” or other social-networkingaction). The set of permissions may permit sharing of certainsocial-networking information of the user based on social-graphinformation (e.g., connections within a threshold degree of separation).As an example and not by way of limitation, the set of permissions mayallow a set of social-networking information to be sent based on adegree of separation in social graph 200 between a node corresponding tothe third-party content provider and a node corresponding to the user ofclient system 130. The user may specify different levels of sharingwithin a set of permissions. As an example and not by way of limitation,the user may specify that a greater amount of social-networkinginformation may be shared with first degree connections of the user insocial graph 200 than the amount shared with second or greater degreeconnections.

Provision of Customized Third-Party Content to a Client System

In particular embodiments, in response to the provision ofsocial-networking information of the user, third-party system 170 maypush, feed, promote, or otherwise send third-party content to the user'sclient system 130. In particular embodiments, third-party system 170 maysend third-party content intended for the user to social-networkingsystem 160, which may send the third-party content to the user's clientsystem 130. Third-party content may also be sent in response to awireless communication session being established between beacon 310 andclient system 130, regardless of whether social-networking informationof the user is provided. The third-party content provided may becustomized based on the social-networking information received. As anexample and not by way of limitation, in response to receiving a user'sname, a third-party content provider may send the user's purchasehistory (e.g., when the user was last at the third-party contentprovider business and what the user ordered or purchased). Third-partycontent may include, for example and not by way of limitation,identifiers of objects (e.g., an indication that a particular object islocated near beacon 310), identifiers of users (e.g., an indication thatone or more client systems of one or more users are in wirelesscommunication sessions with one or more beacons 310), sponsored content(e.g., an advertisement, coupon, promotion, or other suitable offer),patronage demographic information (e.g., an average age of current orhistorical patrons of a third-party content provider place), messages(e.g., messages from a third-party content provider or messages left byanother user's client system 130), information or directions regardinghow to send the third-party content provider a message (e.g., contactinformation for sending a message to third-party system 170), access toor instructions for accessing a bulletin board or chat room feature(e.g., access to a chat room with other users associated with clientsystems in wireless communication sessions with one or more beacons 310of a particular third-party content provider), social-networkinginformation (e.g., of other users currently proximate to one or morebeacons 310), third-party content provider place information (e.g., amap of a place or product stock information), any other suitablethird-party content, or any combination thereof.

As an example and not by way of limitation, social-networking system 160may suggest social-networking actions based on social-networkinginformation (e.g., suggest other users for tagging in a post at place ofbusiness associated with beacon 310 if the other users are associatedwith client systems 130 currently in wireless communication sessionswith beacon 310). As an example and not by way of limitation,third-party system 170 may send one or more identifiers of second usersof an online social network to client system 130 of a first user, andthe second users may be each associated with a respective client system130 that is in an active wireless communication session with beacon 310(e.g., identifiers of second users currently at a third-party contentprovider place). Third-party system 170 may determine that the firstuser has one or more attributes in common with the second users based onreceived social-networking information of each and may provide theidentifiers of the second users to the first user along with suggestedconversation topics based on the social-networking information of each(e.g., the suggested conversation topics may be related to theidentified commonalties). In the same example, third-party system 170may only send the identifiers of second users who are social connectionsof the first user in social graph 200 (i.e., the second users are“friends” of the first user) based on the social-networking informationof the first user. The third-party content may be based on currentinformation, historical information, or a combination of both.

In particular embodiments, third-party system 170, social-networkingsystem 160, or beacon 310 may send one or more questions or requests foradditional information to client system 130 of a user. A response may beinputted by the user or otherwise inputted at client system 130 and sentby client system 130, directly or via beacon 310, to the questioningthird-party system 170, social-networking system 160, or beacon 310. Theresponse sent may include a binary yes/no response or some or all of therequested information. As an example and not by way of limitation, theuser may take and send a “selfie” or other image in response to a promptasking for a photograph of the user at the third-party content providerplace, as shown below in FIG. 12. Third-party system 170,social-networking system 160, or beacon 310 may then send third-partycontent to client system 130 based on the received user response. As anexample and not by way of limitation, third-party system 170 may sendthe user a question—“Are you looking for jeans?”—and a selection ofanswers—“yes” and “no”—and in response to a user response of “yes,”third-party system 170 may send client system 130 a store map showingthe location of jeans. In the same example, third-party system 170 mayadditionally receive social-networking information of the userindicating the gender of the user, and third-party system 170 may thenfurther customize the third-party content to send the user's clientsystem 130 a map showing the location of jeans for the user's gender. Inparticular embodiments, third-party system 170 may send the customizedthird-party content to social-networking system 160 for delivery to theuser's client system 130. Social-networking system 160 may then providethe customized third-party content to client system 130 (e.g., bypresenting it on a page corresponding to the third-party contentprovider).

In particular embodiments, third-party content may be sent to clientsystem 130 while an established wireless communication session is activebetween beacon 310 and client system 130 (i.e., while the user ispresently located at the third-party content provider place). As anexample and not by way of limitation, third-party content sent to clientsystem 130 may include a promotional offer, which is redeemable by theuser of client system 130 while an established wireless communicationsession between beacon 310 and client system 130 remains active.Additionally or alternatively, third-party content may be provided aftera wireless communication session between beacon 310 and client system130 has been terminated (i.e., after a user has left the third-partycontent provider place). As an example and not by way of limitation,third-party system 130 may detect that a wireless communication sessionbetween beacon 310 and client system 130 has been terminated, andthird-party system 170 may send third-party content to client system 130while client system 130 is still within wireless communication range ofbeacon 310. As an example and not by way of limitation, third-partysystem 170 may send a survey or a request to rate or review thethird-party content provider to client system 130 after the wirelesscommunication session between beacon 310 and client system 130 has beenterminated (e.g., by virtue of the user carrying client system 130 outof proximity of beacon 310 or by virtue of the wireless communicationsession expiring). As another example and not by way of limitation,social-networking system 160 may send a survey or a request to rate orreview the third-party content provider to client system 130 after thewireless communication session between beacon 310 and client system 130has been terminated.

In particular embodiments, the establishment of a wireless communicationsession between beacon 310 and client system 130 may effectuate asocial-networking action in an online social network. As an example, theestablishment of a wireless communication session between beacon 310 andclient system 130 may result in a “like” of, check-in at, or othersuitable expression of affinity for a page corresponding to thethird-party content provider beacon-holder by the user on an onlinesocial network. Tapping or otherwise touching client system 130 tobeacon 310 may perform a social-networking action (e.g., “like,”“follow,” “poke,” or “send friend request”). As an example and not byway of limitation, beacon 310 may be associated with a street-performermusician, and a user may tap beacon 310 with client system 130 togenerate a “like” for a page corresponding to the musician on an onlinesocial network. Social-networking actions may be represented in socialgraph 200 by edges connecting a node corresponding to the user to a pagecorresponding to the third-party content provider or an event of thethird-party content provider. Social-networking actions may be publishedby social-networking system 160 (e.g., on a feed or profilecorresponding to the user). While the social-networking action isdescribed as being triggered by the establishment of a wirelesscommunication session between beacon 310 and client system 130, it willbe understood that this is merely illustrative and that any suitableinteraction between beacon 310, client system 130, social-networkingsystem 160, and third-party system 170 may trigger the social-networkingaction. Social-networking actions performed via beacon 310 may betriggers for After-Party like reaction cards, which may be presented toa user, of the type described in U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/466,269, titled “Generating Cards in Response to User Actions onOnline Social Networks” filed 22 Aug. 2014, the entirety of which isincorporated herein by reference. As an example and not by way oflimitation, a social-networking action may be performed in response to aset of social-networking information of the user being sent tothird-party system 170. In particular embodiments, social-networkingsystem 160 may present content to a user (e.g., by publishing objectsand information in a feed on a page associated with the user on anonline social network) based on wireless communication sessionsestablished between the user's client system 130 and beacons 310. As anexample and not by way of limitation, social-networking system 160 mayrank stories, ads, promotions, offers, or other content in a feed basedon the wireless communication sessions established between the user'sclient system 130 and beacons 310.

In particular embodiments, the establishment of a wireless communicationsession between beacon 310 and client system 130 may cause third-partysystem 170 to provide a deep link to a particular location or contentitem of an application of the third-party content provider with whichbeacon 310 is associated. As an example and not by way of limitation,third-party system 170 may receive social-networking information of auser indicating that the user is interested in a particular product, andthird-party system 170 may send to the user's client system 130 a deeplink (e.g., a URL) to a location in an application (e.g., running onclient device 130) that has information pertaining to the particularproduct.

In particular embodiments, the establishment of a wireless communicationsession between beacon 310 and client system 130 may unlock third-partycontent (e.g., a coupon), content of social-networking system 160 (e.g.,a key to access a VIP page on the online social network), or contentdeposited at beacon 310 by another user of an online social network(e.g., a message, image, or digital gift). As an example and not by wayof limitation, a first user may leave a message, physical or digital, atbeacon 310 and may specify who may access the message (e.g., any seconduser in a wireless communication session with beacon 310 or any seconduser who is a social connection of the first user and who is in awireless communication session with beacon 310).

In particular embodiments, authorization to access or view contentdeposited at one or more beacons 310 (e.g., by a user, social-networkingsystem 160, or third-party system 170) may be based on conditions set bythe creator or depositor of the content or by another entity. Arestrictive condition on access to certain content at one or morebeacons 310 may include membership in a specified group. For example,authorized group members may include, by example and not by way oflimitation: members of a certain social club; users who have purchasedaccess rights to the particular content; direct connections of aparticular user node or concept node in social graph 200; users havingphone numbers with a certain area code or prefix; registered users of adownloaded mobile device application, other suitable conditions, or anycombination thereof. Restrictions to access may additionally be based onuser-specific information, including but not limited to: demographicattributes of the user (e.g., age, gender, nationality, race, ethnicity,and/or locality); profile attributes of the user on social-networkingsystem 160, social-networking information associated with the user(e.g., friends within a threshold degree of separation of the userwithin social graph 200); a status of the client system (e.g., thedevice is in “pairing mode” or “game mode”); parental controls set foran account of the user with social-networking system 160; a transactionhistory of the user; other suitable user-specific information; or anycombination thereof. In an example, authorization may be granted tousers having a transaction history showing greater than a thresholdnumber of games played on an online social network; achievement of athreshold level within a particular game; greater than a thresholdnumber of hours logged playing a particular game; achievement of greaterthan a threshold number of posts to a page associated with beacon 310(e.g., comments or status updates); greater than a threshold number ofwireless communication sessions established with a particular beacon 310or set of beacons 310 (e.g., scavenger hunt specifying ten New York Citydestinations to visit within a year); or designation as an administratoror officer of an organization or group on an online social network. Asan example and not by way of limitation, a third-party system 170 maygrant access to third-party content or may provide third-party content(e.g., a promotion or other reward) to a user's client system 130 whengreater than a threshold number of wireless communication sessions havebeen established between client system 130 and one or more beacons 310of the third-party content provider.

In particular embodiments, a third-party content provider (orthird-party system 170) may act in real-time based on wirelesscommunication sessions between beacon 310 and client system 130, thereceived set or sets of social-networking information, received userresponses to questions or requests for information, or any combinationthereof. Third-party system 170 may cause one or more characteristics ofa place of the third-party content provider to be modified, inreal-time, in response to the received set of social-networkinginformation of a user. As an example and not by way of limitation, thethird-party content provider may perform an action customized to aparticular user or group of users (e.g., change the lighting, offer afavorite appetizer, play a preferred genre of music, or any combinationthereof, based on the received set or sets of social-networkinginformation). As another example and not by way of limitation, thethird-party content provider may seat a user based similarities ordissimilarities (e.g., one or more similar or dissimilar attributes)between the sets of social-networking information received for that userand the sets of social-networking information received for other usersin the place (e.g., restaurant) of the third-party content provider.

Business Insights

In particular embodiments, session information of one or more usersassociated with one or more client systems 130 may be received bysocial-networking system 160 from one or more beacons 310 at locationsin a place of a third-party content provider. Session information mayinclude information pertaining to interactions between each clientsystem 130 and beacons 310. As an example and not by way of limitation,session information may include, for each user, a history of wirelesscommunication sessions established between one of beacons 310 and clientsystem 130; a number of visits (i.e., wireless communication sessionsestablished between one or more of beacons 310 and the respective clientsystem 130); whether a user is in a first-time wireless communicationsession with one of beacons 310 at a place of a third-party contentprovider; duration of each wireless communication session between one ofbeacons 310 and client system 130; average duration of wirelesscommunication session between beacons 310 and client system 130; timesince last wireless communication session was established between one ofbeacons 310 and client system 130; any other information pertaining towireless communication sessions established between one of beacons 310and client system 130; or any combination thereof. Session informationmay include information of users whose client systems 130 are presentlyin a wireless communication session with one or more of beacons 310.Session information may also include information of users whose clientsystems 130 have previously been in a wireless communication sessionwith one or more of beacons 310.

In particular embodiments, social-networking system 160 may generate areport of business insights for a third-party content provider based onfoot traffic registered by one or more beacons 310 situated at locationsin a business of the third-party content provider. Although the reportis described in FIGS. 4A-4C as being generated by social-networkingsystem 160, this is merely for illustrative purposes, not by way oflimitation, and any suitable components, devices, or systems maygenerate the report, including, for example one or more beacons 310. Asan example and not by way of limitation, the report may include a set ofbusiness insights generated based on aggregated session information andaggregated social-networking information pertaining to a plurality ofusers of an online social network who are currently or were previouslyassociated with the one or more beacons 310 of the third-party contentprovider, as described below in connection with FIG. 4A. As anotherexample and not by way of limitation, the report may include a profilefor each individual user of an online social network who is currently orwas previously associated with the one or more beacons 310 of thethird-party content provider, as described below in connection withFIGS. 4B-4C. An advantage of particular embodiments is that one or morebusiness insights (e.g., business insights based on beacons 310associated with one or more third-party content providers) may beprovided to users and customized to the particular needs of eachparticular user. In this manner, business insights may empower users,providing customized, location-based information based on which theusers may make informed decisions. As an example and not by way oflimitation, aggregate business insights may include reported noiselevels in local coffee shops (e.g., so that the user may select thequietest coffee shop at which to study); demographic composition of barsin a particular area (e.g., so that the user may select the bar with themost people of his age group); wait time at grocery stores (e.g., sothat the user may select the grocery store with the shortest checkoutlines).

FIG. 4A illustrates an example report view 405 of an interface 400displayed on a third-party system 130. Report view 405 may include anysuitable business insights 420 (e.g., statistics, data, or othersuitable information) generated based on aggregated session informationand aggregated social-networking information for one or more users of anonline social network (i.e., the clientele of a third-party contentprovider). After generating business insights 420, social-networkingsystem 160 may send business insights 420 to third-party system 170 fordisplay to the third-party content provider associated with third-partysystem 170. Business insights 420 may be generated for all usersassociated with client systems 130 previously in an established wirelesscommunication session with any of beacons 310 (i.e., historicalcustomers). Business insights 420 may be generated for all users whoseclient systems 130 are currently in an active wireless communicationsession with any of beacons 310 (i.e., current customers).Social-networking system 160 receive session information for one or moreusers from one or more beacons 310, each of which is communicativelycoupled with third-party system 170 and associated with a particularthird-party content provider. As an example and not by way oflimitation, one or more beacons 310 may be fixed at one or morelocations in a business of the third-party content provider. Thereceived session information of a user may include an identifier of theparticular user, and social-networking system 160 may accesssocial-networking information based on the identifier. Social-networkingsystem 160 may then aggregate and anonymize the received sessioninformation and the accessed social-networking information for one ormore users in order to generate business insights 420. Business insightsmay be sent by social-networking system 160 to third-party system 170for display at a specialized user interface 400 of a native applicationrunning on third-party system 170.

In particular embodiments, business insights 420 may be generated basedon aggregated session information, aggregated social-networkinginformation, or any combination thereof. Business insights 420 generatedbased on session information may include, for example and not by way oflimitation, average duration of user visits (i.e., determined based onwireless communication session durations). Business insights 420generated based on social-networking information may include, forexample and not by way of limitation, a number of users who are femaleor products or menu items for which one or more users have indicated anaffinity (e.g., by “liking” in an online social network). Businessinsights 420 may also be generated based on both social-networkinginformation and session information and may include, for example and notby way of limitation, a number of users who are female and who arecurrently in a wireless communication session with beacon 310 and anaverage duration of visits for female users. Social-networking system160 may generate business insights 420 subject to sets of permissions ofeach user or other restrictions imposed by the social-networking system160. In the illustrated example of FIG. 4A, business insights 420 areshown as including customers in the store (i.e., users with clientsystems 130 in wireless communication sessions with one or more beacons310), numbers of returning and first time customers, numbers of men andwomen, average minutes per visit, average visit per customer, combinedloyalty points for all customers, average age, customers whose birthdaysare today, average rating (e.g., of a page corresponding to thethird-party content provider on an online social network), and customerschecked-in (e.g., at a page corresponding to the third-party contentprovider on an online social network). The number of and the particularbusiness insights 420 generated and included in report view 405 may becustomized to a particular third-party content provider for whichsocial-networking system 160 generates business insights 420. Inconnection with business insights, particular embodiments may utilizeone or more systems, components, elements, functions, methods,operations, or steps disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/542,389, titled “Visualizing Audience Metrics”; U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/542,397, titled “Using Audience Metrics withTargeting Criteria for an Advertisement”; and U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 14/452,411, titled “Generating Audience Metrics IncludingAffinity Scores Relative to an Audience”; each of which is incorporatedby reference in its entirety herein.

In particular embodiments, a third-party content provider may havemultiple beacons 310 dispersed throughout the third-party contentprovider's place of business (e.g., at check-out queues, departments,aisles, and displays for particular products). Session information ofone or more users received from each of beacons 310 by social-networkingsystem 160 may include a location within the place for each of the oneor more users based on the particular beacon 310 with which the user'sclient system 130 is in a wireless communication session. Businessinsights 420 may be generated based on this location information and mayinclude “pain points,” for example, a check-out with a long queue (e.g.,more than a threshold number of client systems 130 are currently in awireless communication session with beacon 310 at the check-out),crowded department or aisles (e.g., more than a threshold number ofclient systems 130 are currently in a wireless communication sessionwith beacon 310 at the department or aisle), products near high volumefoot traffic that may need to be restocked, and tables or users thatrequire service, any other suitable business insights 420 based onusers' locations within the business, or any combination thereof.

In particular embodiments, a third-party content provider or associatedthird-party system 170 may perform an action in real-time based onbusiness insights 420. As an example and not by way of limitation,third-party system 170 may route staff throughout the third-partycontent provider place of business based on business insights 420 (e.g.,business insights 420 may include department-to-checkout time,department traffic, and specific offer(s) in a particular department).As another example, third-party system 170 may price items based onbusiness insights 420 (e.g., surge-pricing based on business insight 420indicating high traffic volume). As another example, third-party system170 may reorder stock or re-stock shelves or products (e.g., based onbusiness insights 420 including aggregate purchase history of particularproducts). In another example, business insights 420 may also monitorthe crowd index at a third-party content provider place of business(e.g., based on average dwell time), and third-party system 170 may makesuggestions to a user based on the business insights 420 tracking crowdindex (e.g., make suggestions of places a user may like based on thesocial-networking and session information of the particular user, if thethird-party content provider's place of business is overcrowded).

Business insights 420 may be generated based on session information andsocial-networking information received or accessed during a pre-definedwindow of time, information continuously accumulated over time, orreal-time information. Business insights may be dynamically updated inreal-time. As an example and not by way of limitation, business insightsmay be updated based on wireless communication sessions established andterminated between beacons 310 and client systems 130. Business insightsmay be provided on an individual basis or as part of a report ofmultiple insights (e.g., as shown in report view 405). Business insights420 may be monetized by charging third-party content providers for thegeneration and provision of a report of business insights 420. Theparticular types of business insights provided in portfolios may becustomized based on the needs and budget of a particular third-partycontent provider.

FIG. 4B illustrates example profile view 410 of an interface 400displayed on a third-party system 130. In particular embodiments,profile view 410 may include an individual profile, represented byprofile icon 425, for each of one or more users of an online socialnetwork. Profile view 410 may provide profile icons 425 in a random orpre-determined order. As an example and not by way of limitation,profile view 410 may provide profile icons 425 in ascending ordescending order of duration of current visit, loyalty points, or in anyother suitable order (e.g., alphabetical by first name). Profiles icons425 may be generated for all users associated with client systems 130previously or currently in an established wireless communication sessionwith any of beacons 310 based on the preferences of the particularthird-party content provider. In the example illustrated in FIG. 4B,profile icons 425 may include an image or other representation of eachof the users (e.g., social-networking system 160 may access each user'ssocial-networking information to obtain an image of the user). Profileicons 425 may include a user's name, identifier, moniker, or any othersuitable identifying information. In another example, social-networkingsystem 160 may cause notification jewels 435 to appear and persist onprofile icons 425. Notification jewel 435 may display a numbercorresponding to, for example and not by way of limitation, newinformation received for a user (e.g., social-networking information).In the example illustrated in FIG. 4B, notification jewels 435 depictthe numerals “8,” “11,” and “2,” and may refer to the number of visitsfor each user associated with profile icons 425. Profile icons 425 andnotification jewels 435 are customizable by social-networking system 160according to the preferences of a third-party content provider. Profileicons 425 may be selectable to reveal a detailed view, which isdescribed below in connection with FIG. 4C.

FIG. 4C illustrates an example detailed profile view 415 of an interface400 displayed on a third-party system 130. Detailed profile view 415 mayinclude profile icons 425 and notification jewels 435. Once a profileicon 425 has been selected (e.g., via input at third-party system 160),it may expand to reveal user profile 445, which may include a set ofsocial-networking information and session information of a particularuser. In the example illustrated in FIG. 4C, a particular profile icon425 is shown as expanded, including profile picture 430 and user profile445, which may hover or float over profile icons 425. Profile picture430 may be the same image or a different image than that depicted inprofile icon 425. User profile 445 may include user name 440 (e.g.,“John”) and any other social-networking information or sessioninformation of the user (e.g., “age: 25”). User profile 445 may alsoinclude social-networking actions of the user taken with respect to anode in social graph 200 corresponding to a third-party contentprovider. As an example and not by way of limitation, user profile 445may include a user social-networking action expressing affinity for thethird-party content provider, which may be represented in social graph200 by an edge connecting a first node corresponding to the user to asecond node corresponding to the third-party content provider. Userprofile 445 may also include a notes section editable at third-partysystem 170 to include any pertinent notes of third-party contentprovider employees or agents.

In particular embodiments, social-networking system 160 may store arecord of session information received for one or more users,social-networking information accessed for the one or more users,third-party information received, and any other relevant information.Social-networking system 160 may store this information, for example, asa markup of a user profile on an online social network (e.g., stored inassociation with a corresponding user node in social graph 200). As anexample and not by way of limitation, the markup of a user profile mayaccessible to third-party system 170 by calling one or more APIs.

Although this disclosure describes and illustrates particularembodiments of FIGS. 4A-4C as being implemented by social-networkingsystem 160, this disclosure contemplates any suitable embodiments ofFIGS. 4A-4C occurring on any suitable interface and as being implementedby any suitable platform or system. As an example, and not by way oflimitation, particular embodiments of FIGS. 4A-4C may be implemented byone or more beacons 310. Furthermore, although this disclosure describesand illustrates particular components, devices, or systems carrying outparticular steps of the method of FIGS. 4A-4C, this disclosurecontemplates any suitable combination of any suitable components,devices, or systems carrying out any suitable steps of the method ofFIGS. 4A-4C.

Ad-Targeting

FIG. 5 illustrates example ads 510 of a third-party content providerdisplayed at an interface 500 of a client system 130. In particularembodiments, social-networking system 160 may target users foradvertisements and customize advertisements to be sent to the user basedon session information, social-networking information, and sponsoredcontent received from third-party system 170. Social-networking system160 may receive session information for a user from one or more beacons310, each of which is communicatively coupled with third-party system170 and associated with a particular third-party content provider. Thereceived session information of a user may include an identifier of theparticular user, and social-networking system 160 may accesssocial-networking information based on the identifier. Social-networkingsystem 160 may also receive, from third-party system 170, sponsoredcontent. Sponsored content may include, for example and not by way oflimitation, an advertisement, a coupon, an offer, a discount, apromotion, any other suitable advertising content, or any combinationthereof. Social-networking system 160 may generate and send ads 510 tothe user's client system based on a set of permissions specified by theuser.

Social-networking system 160 may send ads 510 to client system 130 viatext, email, or any other suitable method of wireless communicationbased on a set of permissions specified by the user of the client system130. In the example illustrated in FIG. 5, ads 510 are shown as textmessages, and the user of client system 130 may have indicated that textmessage is the preferred mode of communication for all advertisingcontent. Social-networking system 160 may also provide ads 510 to usersin a feed or otherwise published on an online social network. Ads 510may be sent to a user while his client system 130 is presently in anestablished wireless communication session with beacon 310 (e.g., anoffer or discount redeemable during the current wireless communicationsession) or after the wireless communication session between beacon 310and client system 130 has been terminated. As an example and not by wayof limitation, social-networking system 160 may send an offer to a userif that user used to frequent the business (e.g., determined based onsession information) but a predetermined period of time has passed sincea wireless communication session has been established between beacon 310and client system 130 of the user.

In particular embodiments, social-networking system 160 may determine towhich user to send ads 510 and how to customize ads 510 based on thatuser's social-networking information and session information.Social-networking system 160 may send ads based on one or moreaffinities expressed by the user. As an example and not by way oflimitation, the social-networking information of the user may include anaffinity coefficient of a first node corresponding to the user withrespect to one or more second nodes in social graph 200. As an example,the affinity coefficient may be based on one or more edges connectingthe first node to one or more second nodes corresponding to thethird-party content provider. Social-networking system 160 may send ads510 based on a current geographical location of a user (e.g., determinedbased on the social-networking information). As an example and not byway of limitation, social-networking system 160 may send an ad 510 for aparticular third-party content provider to which the user is currentlyproximate. As an example and not by way of limitation, social-networkingsystem 160 may send ads 510 to client system 130 in response todetermining, based on session information of the user, that a wirelesscommunication session has not been established between beacon 310 andclient system 130 for a predetermined period of time. As another exampleand not by way of limitation, social-networking system 160 may send ads510 to client system 130 in response to determining, based onsocial-networking information of the user, that the user's purchasehistory indicates a strong trend to purchasing a particular type ofproduct when it is on-sale and the sponsored content received includes adiscount for the same type of product. As an example and not by way oflimitation, social-networking system 160 may send ads 510 to a userbecause he visited a third-party content provider before other usersvisited the third-party content provider (i.e., the user's client systemwas in a wireless communication system with a beacon 310 at an earlierdate or time than a certain number of other users' client systems). Asan example and not by way of limitation, social-networking systems 160may send ads 510 (e.g., a VIP promotional offer) to a user who performeda social-networking action with respect to a node corresponding to athird-party content provider in social graph 200 before other users didthe same (e.g., the user is an “early adopter”).

In particular embodiments, social-networking system 160 may send ads 510to client system 130 of a first user based on the social-networkinginformation of one or more second users. As an example and not by way oflimitation, social-networking system 160 may send ads 510 to clientsystem 130 of a first user who has one or more attributes (e.g.,received session information may include the one or more attributes) incommon with one or more second users whose social-networking informationand session information indicates a particular average duration ofvisits, a threshold frequency of visits, a particular purchase history,any other suitable attributes, or any combination thereof (e.g., thefirst user is targeted for advertising based on being a “lookalike” ofsecond users who are frequent or loyal patrons of a particularthird-party content provider). Social-networking system 160 may alsosend ads 510 to client system 130 of a first user based on thesocial-networking information and session information of one or moresecond users who are connected to the first user in social graph 200(e.g., a first node corresponds to the first user, second nodescorrespond to the second users, and the first node is connected to eachof the second nodes by a threshold degree of separation). Advertisementsmay be sent to particular users and customized for particular usersusing one or more systems, components, elements, functions, methods,operations, or steps disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/300,309, titled “Selecting Advertisement Content for SocialNetworking System Users Based on Types of Location Data”; U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/529,133, titled “Selection Of A Group Of ContentItems For Presentation To An Online System User Based On Content ItemCharacteristics And User Attributes”; and U.S. patent application Ser.No. 14/305,997, titled “Displaying Advertisements with LocationInformation”; each of which is incorporated by reference in its entiretyherein.

In particular embodiments, client system 130 may be currently in awireless communication session with beacon 310 of a first third-partycontent provider, and social-networking system 160 may send ads 510,which are based on sponsored content received from a second third-partycontent provider. In particular embodiments, social-networking system160 may generate new sponsored content or receive sponsored content froman entity or third-party content provider that is not associated with abeacon 310. In particular embodiments, social-networking system 160 mayreceive sponsored content from third-party systems 170 of multiplethird-party content providers, and social-networking system may selectsponsored content received from at least one of the third-party systems170, based on which social-networking system 160 may generate ads 510 tobe sent to client system 130. As an example and not by way oflimitation, if a third-party content provider place of business reachesa threshold occupancy level (e.g., based on a business insight crowdindex), it may send ads 510, which may promote different third-partycontent providers, to users who are presently associated with one ormore beacons 310 in order to manage the crowd index. As another exampleand not by way of limitation, for a third-party content providerbusiness (e.g., Johnny Brenda's bar), social-networking system 160 maysend ads 510 to client system 130 that include nearby suggestedthird-party content provider businesses and/or promotions or offers forthe suggested third-party content provider businesses (e.g.,advertisement for happy hour at a nearby bar with similar attributes,the Starboard Side Tavern). Social-networking system 160 may also sendads 510 directing a user to a different third-party content providerbusiness based on predicted exit times (e.g., determined based ofbusiness insights including average duration of visits for theparticular users) of users whose client systems are currently in awireless communication session with one of beacons 310. As an exampleand not by way of limitation, after a user's client system 130 has beenin a wireless communication session with a beacon 310 for apredetermined period of time, social-networking system 160 may send ads510 for other similar businesses or for other businesses to visit next(e.g., if the third-party content provider is a bar, a next-visitbusiness may be a pizza shop, or if the third-party content provider isa movie theater, a next-visit business may be a coffee shop).Social-networking system 160 may send ads 510 based on physicalproximity of other third-party content providers (e.g., within walkingdistance) as well as on social-networking information (e.g., the userhas indicated an affinity for a type of third-party content provider)and/or session information (e.g., ads may include “Two of your friendsare at Starboard Bar” or “Ten of your friends like Mystic Pizza, whichis just across the street.”). Social-networking system 160 may also sendads 510 to client system 130 based trends observed in the user's sessioninformation (e.g., user has an established pattern of frequenting asecond third-party content provider after a first third-party contentprovider, so the second third-party content provider may be promoted asa next-visit business).

In particular embodiments, advertising may be monetized by taking bidsfrom third-party content providers for an advertising slot. For example,in response to receiving, from a third-party content provider at which auser is located, sponsorship information soliciting sponsored contentfrom one or more other third-party content providers, social-networkingsystem 160 may receive sponsored content from the one or more otherthird-party content providers, each also sending a bid, either inreal-time or via prior negotiation. As another example,social-networking system 160 may also receive sponsored content from anentity or third-party content provider that is not associated with abeacon 310. Social-networking system 160 may send ads 510 to a clientsystem 130 based on the sponsored content of the third-party contentprovider who submitted the winning bid. The sponsorship information mayspecify a time range (e.g., based on an exit time prediction for aparticular user), and social-networking system 160 may send ads 510 toclient system 130 during the specified time range. As an example and notby way of limitation, transportation entities (e.g., taxi services) mayalso submit bids and sponsored content (e.g., taxi services or otherthird-party transit providers may bid on ads 510 to be sent to clientsystems 130 based on predicted exit times).

Although this disclosure describes and illustrates particularembodiments of FIG. 5 as being implemented by social-networking system160, this disclosure contemplates any suitable embodiments of FIG. 5occurring on any suitable interface and as being implemented by anysuitable platform or system. As an example, and not by way oflimitation, particular embodiments of FIG. 5 may be implemented by oneor more beacons 310. Furthermore, although this disclosure describes andillustrates particular components, devices, or systems carrying outparticular steps of the method of FIG. 5, this disclosure contemplatesany suitable combination of any suitable components, devices, or systemscarrying out any suitable steps of the method of FIG. 5.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example method 600 for sending customizedthird-party content to a client system 130. The method may begin at step610, where third-party system 170 may send, from third-party system 170associated with a third-party content provider, via beacon 310associated with the third-party content provider, beacon 310 beingcommunicatively coupled to third-party system 170, a request toassociate with first client system 130 of a first user of an onlinesocial network, the request specifying at least one attribute of thethird-party content provider, and wherein: beacon 310 is associated witha location within a place associated with the third-party contentprovider, and first client system 130 is within wireless communicationrange of beacon 310, first client system 130 being proximate to beacon310. At step 620, third-party system 170 may receive, via beacon 310, afirst set of social-networking information of the first user, the firstset of social-networking information being sent in response toestablishment of a wireless communication session between beacon 310 andfirst client system 130, wherein the first set of social-networkinginformation is based on a set of permissions specified by the first userand the at least one attribute of the third-party content provider. Atstep 630, third-party system 170 may send to first client system 130,via beacon 310, customized third-party content for display on firstclient system 130, the customized third-party content being based on thefirst set of social-networking information and first client system 130being proximate to beacon 310. Particular embodiments may repeat one ormore steps of the method of FIG. 6, where appropriate. Although thisdisclosure describes and illustrates particular steps of the method ofFIG. 6 as occurring in a particular order, this disclosure contemplatesany suitable steps of the method of FIG. 6 occurring in any suitableorder. Moreover, although this disclosure describes and illustrates anexample method for sending customized third-party content to clientsystem 130 including the particular steps of the method of FIG. 6, thisdisclosure contemplates any suitable method for sending customizedthird-party content to client system 130 including any suitable steps,which may include all, some, or none of the steps of the method of FIG.6, where appropriate. Furthermore, although this disclosure describesand illustrates particular components, devices, or systems carrying outparticular steps of the method of FIG. 6, this disclosure contemplatesany suitable combination of any suitable components, devices, or systemscarrying out any suitable steps of the method of FIG. 6.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example method 700 for sending a report to athird-party system 170. The method may begin at step 710, wheresocial-networking system 160 may receive, from one or more beacons 310associated with a third-party content provider, each beacon 310 beingcommunicatively coupled to third-party system 170 associated with thethird-party content provider, session information of a plurality offirst users of the online social network, the session informationincluding an identifier of each first user, wherein: each beacon 310 isassociated with a particular location within a place associated with thethird-party content provider, each first user is associated with arespective first client system 130, each first client system 130 havingbeen within wireless communication range of and proximate to arespective at least one beacon 310, and at least one wirelesscommunication session has been established between the respective atleast one beacon 310 and each first client system 130. At step 720,social-networking system 160 may access social-networking informationassociated with each first user based on the identifiers. At step 730,social-networking system 160 may generate a report, the report includingaggregated social-networking information and aggregated sessioninformation of one or more of the first users, wherein the report isgenerated based on sets of permissions specified by each of the one ormore first users. At step 740, social-networking system 160 may send thereport to third-party system 170 for display. Particular embodiments mayrepeat one or more steps of the method of FIG. 7, where appropriate.Although this disclosure describes and illustrates particular steps ofthe method of FIG. 7 as occurring in a particular order, this disclosurecontemplates any suitable steps of the method of FIG. 7 occurring in anysuitable order. Moreover, although this disclosure describes andillustrates an example method for sending a report to third-party system170 including the particular steps of the method of FIG. 7, thisdisclosure contemplates any suitable method for sending a report tothird-party system 170 including any suitable steps, which may includeall, some, or none of the steps of the method of FIG. 7, whereappropriate. Furthermore, although this disclosure describes andillustrates particular components, devices, or systems carrying outparticular steps of the method of FIG. 7, this disclosure contemplatesany suitable combination of any suitable components, devices, or systemscarrying out any suitable steps of the method of FIG. 7.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example method 800 for sending a customizedadvertisement to a client system 130. The method may begin at step 810,where social-networking system 160 may receive, from beacon 310associated with a third-party content provider, beacon 310 beingcommunicatively coupled to third-party system 170 associated with thethird-party content provider, session information of a first user of anonline social network, the session information of the first userincluding an identifier of the first user, wherein: beacon 310 isassociated with a first location of a plurality of locations within aplace associated with the third-party content provider, and at least onewireless communication session has been established between first clientsystem 130 of the first user and beacon 310, first client system 130having been proximate to beacon 310. At step 820, social-networkingsystem 160 may receive sponsored content from third-party system 170associated with the third-party content provider. At step 830,social-networking system 160 may access social-networking information ofthe first user based on the identifier. At step 840, social-networkingsystem 160 may send a customized advertisement to first client system130 for display on first client system 130, wherein the customizedadvertisement is based on the session information of the first user, thesponsored content, the social-networking information of the first user,and wherein the customized advertisement is sent to first client system130 based on a set of permissions specified by the first user.Particular embodiments may repeat one or more steps of the method ofFIG. 8, where appropriate. Although this disclosure describes andillustrates particular steps of the method of FIG. 8 as occurring in aparticular order, this disclosure contemplates any suitable steps of themethod of FIG. 8 occurring in any suitable order. Moreover, althoughthis disclosure describes and illustrates an example method for sendinga customized advertisement to client system 130 including the particularsteps of the method of FIG. 8, this disclosure contemplates any suitablemethod for sending a customized advertisement to client system 130including any suitable steps, which may include all, some, or none ofthe steps of the method of FIG. 8, where appropriate. Furthermore,although this disclosure describes and illustrates particularcomponents, devices, or systems carrying out particular steps of themethod of FIG. 8, this disclosure contemplates any suitable combinationof any suitable components, devices, or systems carrying out anysuitable steps of the method of FIG. 8.

Notifications

Third-Party Content Notifications

In particular embodiments, social-networking system 160 may generate andprovide notifications to users of an online social network based oninformation received from beacon 310 or other suitablegeographic-positioning-capable devices or systems associated with athird-party content provider. Social-networking system 160 may generateand provide to users notifications regarding a place of business of athird-party content provider and including third-party content. As anexample and not by way of limitation, social-networking system 160 maydetermine, based on location information received from a user's clientsystem, that the user is located near beacon 310, which may be locatedat a place of a third-party content provider (e.g., at abrick-and-mortar store for a particular clothing retailer).Social-networking system 160 may then send to the user a notificationincluding third-party content associated with the third-party contentprovider and place. Social-networking system 160 may generate andpersonalize notifications using any suitable information, including, forexample, social-networking information and session informationassociated with the user and with other users to whom the user isconnected in social graph 200 by less than a threshold degree ofseparation. As an example and not by way of limitation,social-networking system 160 may send the user a message notifying theuser that he is close to a particular third-party content providerlocation that his friends like (e.g., a number of first degreeconnections have “liked” a page corresponding to the third-party contentprovider on the online social network). The particular notificationssent to a user as well as when and how many notifications may be sent toa user may be subject to a set of permissions (e.g., privacypreferences) specified by the user or other restrictions imposed by theonline social network. Any suitable notifications may be sent bysocial-networking system 160 to client system 130 for display to theuser, including, as an example and not by way of limitation,notifications to be presented on a lock screen of client system 130, asdescribed below in connection with FIG. 9A, notifications to bepresented in an interface of an application (e.g., a social mediaapplication) running on client system 130, as described below inconnection with FIGS. 9B-9E, other suitable types of notifications(e.g., banner notifications, badge notifications, jewel notifications,messaging notifications, etc.), or any combination thereof.

FIG. 9A illustrates an example notification 910 displayed on a lockscreen 905 of a client system 130. In particular embodiments,social-networking system 160 may send notifications, including, forexample, notification 910 to interface 900 of client system 130 of auser based on location information of the user. Location information maybe sent to social-networking system 160, as an example and not by way oflimitation, by client system 130 (e.g., using GPS functionality). Asanother example, location information may be determined bysocial-networking system 160 based on social-networking actions taken bythe user (e.g., the user checked-in at a page or event associated with athird-party content provider location). In particular embodiments,notifications may be deleted, retracted, or otherwise removed based onlocation information of the user of client system 130. As an example andnot by way of limitation, social-networking system 160 may determine toremove notification 910 because a user's client system 130 has movedoutside of the threshold distance from the location of beacon 310.Notifications may also be removed after a user has interacted with itby, for example, a slide gesture inputted at a touchscreen interface ofclient system 130. Notifications may be dismissed in response to apredefined user input (e.g., tapping a particular element of theinterface).

In particular embodiments, notification 910 may include any suitablethird-party content, and the particular third-party content included innotification 910 may be customized for the particular user using anysuitable techniques, as described above. Notification 910 may alsoinclude any other suitable information that is associated with thethird-party content provider (e.g., from the social-networking system),which may also be customized for the particular user using any suitabletechniques. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 9A, social-networkingsystem 160 may determine that the user is within a threshold distance ofPrince Street Cafe and may send notification 910 indicating that theuser is nearby and that “people talk about red velvet cupcake and crumbpie here.” Social-networking system 160 may determine to send anotification to client system 130 of a particular user based onsocial-networking information of the user and on session informationreceived from a beacon 310 and associated with the user's client system130. As an example and not by way of limitation, social-networkingsystem 160 may generate and send a notification including menu itemsliked by friends (i.e., first-degree connections in social graph 200) ata nearby location of a third-party content provider (e.g., notificationstating that Prince Street Cafe is nearby and that Chelsea, a friend ofthe user, likes their tomato soup); posts made by the third-partycontent provider to a corresponding page (e.g., notifying the user thatthe credit-card reader is down); an ongoing or upcoming event hosted ata third-party content provider location (e.g., notifying the user thatthe mayor is speaking at 8:00 pm and that 20 people are attending theevent); spotlight data from reviews of a third-party content provider(e.g., notification 910). In particular embodiments, notifications maybe presented at client system 130 with prompts for retrieving additionalinformation associated with the notification. As an example and not byway of limitation, FIG. 9A illustrates a customized “slide”functionality, where a slide gesture may be inputted by the user ofclient system 130 to retrieve additional information associated withnotification 910 (e.g., a page corresponding to Prince Street Cafe;relevant posts by or associated with social-graph connections; andinformation regarding products, services, and menu items offered at thelocation).

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 9A, notification 910 is shown asbeing pushed (i.e., a “push notification”) to lock screen 905 of clientsystem 130. Notification 910 may be presented silently on lock screen905 or may be accompanied by audible, tactile, or other suitablefeedback. Notifications may be delivered in accordance withuser-specified permissions, which may provide, as an example and not byway of limitation, what types of notifications may be received (e.g.,notifications associated with events), from which third-party contentproviders notifications may be received (e.g., only from businesses thatthe user has patronized before), when notifications may be received(e.g., on weekends), how many notifications may be received (e.g., noduplicates or one per week), types of content to be included in anotification (e.g., only content based on first-degree socialconnections of the user), and how the notification may be presented onclient system 130 (e.g., as a silent push notification on lock screen905).

FIG. 9B illustrates an example notification 920 displayed in aninterface 900 of a client system 130. In FIG. 9B, notification 920 isshown as displayed in a news feed 915, which is provided in anapplication running on client system 130. Notification 920 may beselectable to reveal third-party content (e.g., menu).

FIG. 9C illustrates an example notification 925 displayed in aninterface 900 of a client system 130. In FIG. 9C, notification 925 isshown as displayed in a news feed 915, which is provided in anapplication running on client system 130. Notification 925 may be sentto client system 130, by social-networking system 160, in response tosession information, received at social-networking system 160 frombeacon 310, indicating that the a wireless communication session hasbeen established between client system 130 and beacon 310.Social-networking system 160 may select the particular content forinclusion in a notification based on session information of the user;for example, third-party content provided in a notification to a userwhose client system 130 is not in a wireless communication session withbeacon 310 (e.g., notification 920) may differ from that provided in anotification when the user's client system 130 is in an active wirelesscommunication session with beacon 310 (e.g., notification 925). Anotification may be selectable to reveal a page corresponding to athird-party content provider, and social-networking system 160 maycustomize the content provided on the page based on session informationof the user, as described below in connection with FIGS. 9D and 9E.

FIG. 9D illustrates an example page 930 corresponding to a third-partycontent provider displayed in an interface 900 of a client system 130.In FIG. 9D, notification 940 is shown as displayed on page 930, which isprovided in an application running on client system 130, and whichcorresponds to the Prince Street Cafe. In particular embodiments,social-networking system 160 may send notification 940 to client system130 for display to the user after session information is received frombeacon 310, which may be associated with Prince Street Cafe, the sessioninformation indicating that a wireless communication session has beenestablished between client system 130 and beacon 310. In the exampleillustrated in FIG. 9D, notification 940 is shown as providingadditional third-party content, including overview 935 introducing thePrince Street Cafe and popular menu items 940. Overview 935 and popularmenu items 940 are merely illustrative, and any suitable third-partycontent or combination thereof may be provided to the user innotification 940. As described above in connection with FIG. 9A, theparticular third-party content included in a notification may becustomized to a particular user based on social-networking informationand session information of the user and on social-networking informationand session information of social-graph connections of the user.

FIG. 9E illustrates an example page corresponding to a third-partycontent provider displayed in an interface 900 of a client system 130.In FIG. 9E, notification 945 is shown as displayed on page 930, which isprovided in an application running on client system 130, and whichcorresponds to the Prince Street Cafe. In particular embodiments,social-networking system 160 may send notification 945 to client system130 for display to the user after session information is received frombeacon 310, which may be associated with Prince Street Cafe, indicatingthat a wireless communication session is no longer active between clientsystem 130 and beacon 310. In the example illustrated in FIG. 9E,notification 945 is shown as providing additional third-party content,including a departure message thanking the user for his patronage; posts950 made recently by Prince Street Cafe; current and upcoming events 955hosted at Prince Street Cafe; spotlight reviews 960 highlightingparticular menu items reviewed, talked about, or otherwise referenced byother users; and survey 965 prompting the user to rate his experience atPrince Street Cafe as “Great,” “Okay,” or “Bad.” The particularthird-party content shown as included is merely illustrative, and anysuitable third-party content or combination thereof may be provided tothe user in notification 945.

Although this disclosure describes and illustrates particularembodiments of FIGS. 9A-9E as being implemented by social-networkingsystem 160, this disclosure contemplates any suitable embodiments ofFIGS. 9A-9E occurring on any suitable interface and as being implementedby any suitable platform or system. As an example, and not by way oflimitation, particular embodiments of FIGS. 9A-9E may be implemented byone or more beacons 310. Furthermore, although this disclosure describesand illustrates particular components, devices, or systems carrying outparticular steps of the method of FIGS. 9A-9E, this disclosurecontemplates any suitable combination of any suitable components,devices, or systems carrying out any suitable steps of the method ofFIGS. 9A-9E.

Arrival and Departure Notifications

In particular embodiments, social-networking system 160 may send, to afirst user's client system 130, a notification of a second user'sarrival at or departure from a third-party content provider location. Inparticular embodiments, social-networking system 160 may generatenotifications based on session information of the first and secondusers. Social-networking system 160 may receive session informationassociated with first and second users from one or more beacons 310associated with and located at one or more third-party content providerlocations. Social-networking system 160 may determine to send arrivaland departure notifications to a first user's client system 130 based onthe session information of the first user. As an example and not by wayof limitation, the received session information of the first user mayindicate that a wireless communication session has been establishedbetween the first user's client system 130 and beacon 310 (i.e., thefirst user is at a first third-party content provider location), andsocial-networking system 160 may send, to the first user's client system130, arrival notifications for second users arriving at the firstthird-party content provider location. Social-networking system 160 mayreceive dynamically updated session information for a second user fromthe same beacon 310 indicating that a wireless communication session hasbeen established between the second user's client system 130 and beacon310 (i.e., the second user has arrived at the first third-party contentprovider location where the first user is also located).Social-networking system 160 may then generate and send a notificationto the client system 130 of the first user based on the sessioninformation indicating that the second user has arrived, an example ofwhich is illustrated in FIG. 10A. In particular embodiments, arrival anddeparture notifications may be sent to a first user for second users whoare connected to the first user within a threshold degree of separationin social graph 200. As an example and not by way of limitation, thedegree of separation may be one, two, three, or all, each edge betweentwo nodes corresponding to a single degree of separation.

FIG. 10A illustrates an example notification 1010 displayed on a lockscreen 905 of a client system 130. In particular embodiments,social-networking system 160 may send a notification 1010 referencing asecond user (e.g., Mark) to interface 1000 of client system 130 of afirst user based on session information of the first user and sessioninformation of the second user. As described above in connection withFIG. 9A, any suitable notification may be sent to client system 130 inaccordance with user preferences and privacy settings. In the exampleillustrated in FIG. 10A, notification 1010 is shown as a “pushnotification” presented at lock screen 905 of client system 130.

FIG. 10B illustrates an example notification 1020 displayed in aninterface 1000 of a client system 130. In particular embodiments,social-networking system 160 may send notification 1020 to interface1000 of client system 130 of a first user. In FIG. 10B, notification1020 is shown as displayed in a news feed 915, which is provided in anapplication running on client system 130. Notification 1020 may be sentto client system 130, by social-networking system 160, in response tosession information, received at social-networking system 160 frombeacon 310, indicating that the a wireless communication session hasbeen established between a client system 130 of a second user (e.g.,John) and beacon 310—“John is now at Hildy's Tavern.” As shown in FIG.10B, notification 1020 may also include departure information of thesecond user—“He left Prince Street Cafe 20 minutes ago.” Departureinformation may be sent in response to receiving session information ofthe second user from a beacon 310 of a different third-party contentprovider location indicating that a wireless communication sessionbetween beacon 310 and the second user's client system 130 lapsed orbecame inactive at a particular time (e.g., 20 minutes ago). As shown inthe example illustrated in FIG. 10B, arrival and departure notificationsmay include timing information, which may be a powerful resource for afirst user trying to meet up with a second user. As an example and notby way of limitation, a first user may be late meeting up with a seconduser at an annual city-wide Santa pub crawl, and may be having troublekeeping in contact with the second user, as he travels betweenestablishments in a Santa costume similar to that worn by hundreds ofothers at the event. The first user may receive notification 1020indicating that the second user (e.g., John) departed from a particularthird-party content provider location at a particular time and has nowarrived at a new third-party content provider location (e.g., Hildy'sTavern), and the first user may be able to use this information to meetup the second user at the new third-party content provider location forholiday merriment rather than following the second user around the cityall day, one step behind. A user may specify in privacy settings to whomarrival and departure notifications may be sent and what information maybe included in these notifications. As an example and not by way oflimitation, John's privacy settings may provide permission for arrivaland departure notifications to be sent to client system 130 of aparticular first user (e.g., a particular friend of John's) only forthird-party content provider locations associated with the pub crawlevent.

FIG. 10C illustrates an example page 1030 corresponding to a third-partycontent provider displayed in an interface 1000 of a client system 130.A notification (e.g., notification 1020 of FIG. 10B) may be selectableto reveal a page 1030 corresponding to a third-party content providerlocation, and social-networking system 160 may customize the contentprovided on the page 1030 based on session information of the user. FIG.10C illustrates an example page 930 corresponding to a third-partycontent provider displayed in an interface 900 of a client system 130.In FIG. 10C, notification 1050 (e.g., Mark is here) is shown asdisplayed on page 1030, which is provided in an application running onclient system 130, and which corresponds to Hildy's Tavern. As shown inthe example illustrated in FIG. 10C, page 1030 may include tools 1040with functionality that allows the first user to interact with thethird-party content provider (e.g., by “liking,” checking in, looking atthe menu, or messaging). In particular embodiments, arrival anddeparture notifications for a particular second user may be sent to thefirst user's client system 130 based on an invitation sent by the firstuser to the second user. Notification 1050 may provide a prompt by whichthe first user may send an invitation to a second user inviting thesecond user to join the first user at a first-party content providerlocation (e.g., Hildy's Tavern), as described below in connection withFIGS. 11A-11D.

Although this disclosure describes and illustrates particularembodiments of FIGS. 10A-10C as being implemented by social-networkingsystem 160, this disclosure contemplates any suitable embodiments ofFIGS. 10A-10C occurring on any suitable interface and as beingimplemented by any suitable platform or system. As an example, and notby way of limitation, particular embodiments of FIGS. 10A-10C may beimplemented by one or more beacons 310. Furthermore, although thisdisclosure describes and illustrates particular components, devices, orsystems carrying out particular steps of the method of FIGS. 10A-10C,this disclosure contemplates any suitable combination of any suitablecomponents, devices, or systems carrying out any suitable steps of themethod of FIGS. 10A-10C.

Invitation Notifications

In particular embodiments, social-networking system 160 may use locationand session information received from one or more beacons 310 togenerate and send notifications to a first user prompting the first userto invite one or more selected second users. Social-networking system160 may receive session information associated with a first user from abeacon 310 associated with a third-party content provider and at aparticular location within a place of the third-party content provider.The session information may indicate that a wireless communicationsession has been established between the first user's client system 130and beacon 310 (i.e., the first user is at a third-party contentprovider location). Social-networking system 160 may send, to the firstuser's client system 130, a notification referencing one or more secondusers who are at locations within a threshold distance from theparticular location of beacon 310 (i.e., nearby second users).Social-networking system 160 may determine that one or more second usersare nearby based on, for example, location information from clientsystems 130 associated with the one or more second users. As an exampleand by way of limitation, the first user may be at a bar, and the one ormore second users may be in the same city or neighborhood, or otherwisewithin a predefined distance (e.g., radius) from the beacon locationwithin the place of the third-party content provider. Social-networkingsystem 160 may generate and send to the first user's client system 130 anotification suggesting that the first user send a message or invitation(e.g., to join the first user at the bar) to one or more of the nearbysecond users.

In particular embodiments, social-networking system 160 may select oneor more second users of all nearby second users which may be referencedin a notification sent to the first user's client system 130. Inparticular embodiments, second users may be selected and notificationssent using techniques for determining nearby friends in U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/323,915, titled “Nearby Friend Notifications onOnline Social Networks,” filed 3 Jul. 2014, the entirety of which isincorporated herein by reference. In particular embodiments,social-networking system 160 may select one or more second users fromthe second users determined to be nearby based on session informationassociated with the second users indicating that the client systems ofthe second users are not in wireless communications sessions with beacon310 (e.g., none of the second users is already at the third-partycontent provider place at which the first user is located).Social-networking system 160 may select the suggested second users fromamong all nearby second users based on, for example, social-networkinginformation of the first user and the suggested second users (e.g.,indications of affinity for a particular type of food), locationinformation of the suggested second users (e.g., more proximate secondusers may be more likely to accept an invitation), session informationof the first user and the suggested second users (e.g., client systems130 of the first user and a particular second user have previously beenin a wireless communication session at the same time with the samebeacon 310), preferences of the first or second users (e.g., preferencesof at least one second user indicate a preference for a type of good orservice, and the third-party content provider provides the preferredtype of good or service), any other suitable user information, or anycombination thereof. As an example and not by way of limitation,social-networking system 160 may select a suggested second user based onsession information of the second user including a history of priorwireless communication sessions established between the beacon 310 andthe second client system of the second user (e.g., past wirelesscommunication sessions may indicate that the second user is more likelyto return to the location). As another example, social-networking system160 may select a suggested second user based on one or more affinitiesexpressed by the second user. The social-networking information of thesecond user may include an affinity coefficient of a second nodecorresponding to the second user with respect to a third node in socialgraph 200 corresponding to the third-party content provider. As anexample, the affinity coefficient may be based on one or more edgesconnecting the second node to the third node corresponding to thethird-party content provider. FIGS. 11A-11D, described below, provideexamples of invitation notifications.

FIG. 11A illustrates an example notification 1110 displayed on a lockscreen 905 of a client system 130. In particular embodiments,social-networking system 160 may receive, from a first user's clientsystem 130 (e.g., William's client system 130, which is not shown), arequest to invite at least one selected second user (e.g., referenced ina notification sent to the first user's client system 130) to the placeassociated with a third-party content provider. Social-networking system160 may send, in response to the request a notification 1110 tointerface 1100 of client system 130 of at least one selected seconduser. As described above in connection with FIG. 9A, any suitablenotification may be sent to client system 130 in accordance with userpreferences and privacy settings. In the example illustrated in FIG.11A, notification 1110 is shown as a “push notification” presented atlock screen 905 of client system 130.

FIG. 11B illustrates an example notification 1120 displayed in aninterface 1100 of a client system 130. In FIG. 11B, notification 1120 isshown as displayed in a news feed 915, which is provided in anapplication running on client system 130. In particular embodiments,social-networking system 160 may send an invitation notification 1120 toat least one selected second user to join the first user (e.g., William)at a place associated with a third-party content provider (e.g., PrinceStreet Cafe). Invitation notification 1120 may include a prompt torespond to the invitation, for example, by responding “Join,” “Maybe,”or “Decline.” Invitation notification 1120 may include any suitablethird-party content associated with the place and the associatedthird-party content provider. As an example and not by way oflimitation, invitation notification 1120 may include locationinformation (e.g., an address) of the place associated with thethird-party content provider, which is shown in FIG. 11B as a map, whichmay be interactive and which may include customized directions from acurrent location of the invited second user to the third-party contentprovider location or any other suitable location information. Invitationnotification 1120 may include a message from the first user or thethird-party content provider. Invitation notification 1120 may includean identifier (e.g., name and/or image) of at least one third user ofthe online social network, where the at least one third user's clientsystem 130 is in an active wireless communication session with beacon310. In the example illustrated in FIG. 11B, notification 1120 providesnames and images of other users who are presently at the third-partycontent provider location (e.g., “Andrew, Martha, and 3 others”).

FIG. 11C illustrates an example notification 1130 displayed in aninterface 1100 of a client system 130. In FIG. 11C, notification 1130 isshown as displayed in a news feed 915, which is provided in anapplication running on client system 130. Notification 1130 may be sentto a first user and may reference one or more selected second users(e.g., by including selectable images respectively corresponding to theusers), which may be selected by social-networking system 160, asdescribed above, from among all nearby second users. Notification 1130is shown as a prompt to invite one or more of the selected second usersor to “choose friends” to invite to a place of a third-party contentprovider.

FIG. 11D illustrates an example notification 1160 and a page 1140corresponding to a third-party content provider displayed in aninterface 1100 of a client system 130. A notification (e.g.,notification 1130 of FIG. 11C) may be selectable to reveal page 1140corresponding to a third-party content provider location, andsocial-networking system 160 may customize the content provided on thepage 1140 to the particular viewing first user. As shown in the exampleillustrated in FIG. 11D, page 1140 may include tools 1150 withfunctionality that allows the first user to interact with thethird-party content provider (e.g., by “liking,” checking in, looking atthe menu, or messaging). In FIG. 11D, notification 1160 is shown asdisplayed on page 1030, which is provided in an application running onclient system 130, and which corresponds to Prince Street Cafe.Notification 1160 may be a prompt to invite other users and mayreference one or more users presently at the third-party contentprovider place (e.g., text stating that “William, Andrew, Martha, and 3friends are here” and corresponding images depicting the users).Notification 1160 may also include any other suitable functionality forinteracting with the notification, including, for example, tools formessaging a particular user, locating a particular user, creating a“moment” or post based on notification 1160, any other suitableinteraction tools, or any combination thereof.

Social-networking system 160 may provide arrival and departurenotifications when a second user arrives at or departs from third-partycontent provider locations after having accepted an invitation from thefirst user, as described above in connection with FIGS. 10A-10C.Similarly, social-networking system 160 may send arrival and departurenotifications associated with a first user to an invited second user sothat the invited second user may have an easier time meeting up with thefirst user, in particular if the first user is moving to differentlocations.

Although this disclosure describes and illustrates particularembodiments of FIGS. 11A-11D as being implemented by social-networkingsystem 160, this disclosure contemplates any suitable embodiments ofFIGS. 11A-11D occurring on any suitable interface and as beingimplemented by any suitable platform or system. As an example, and notby way of limitation, particular embodiments of FIGS. 11A-11D may beimplemented by one or more beacons 310. Furthermore, although thisdisclosure describes and illustrates particular components, devices, orsystems carrying out particular steps of the method of FIGS. 11A-11D,this disclosure contemplates any suitable combination of any suitablecomponents, devices, or systems carrying out any suitable steps of themethod of FIGS. 11A-11D.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example self-portrait interface 1200 displayed ona client system 130. In particular embodiments, once a wirelesscommunication session has been established between client system 130 andbeacon 310 of a third-party content provider, third-party system 170,social-networking system 160, or beacon 310 may send a request foradditional information to client system 130 of a user. A response may beinputted by the user or otherwise inputted at client system 130 and sentby client system 130, directly or via beacon 310, to the questioningthird-party system 170, social-networking system 160, or beacon 310. Inthe embodiment illustrated in FIG. 12, social-networking system 160 mayprovide a self-portrait interface 1200 and prompt the user to take andsend a self-portrait 1210 (i.e., a “selfie”) showing the user at thethird-party content provider place, as shown below in FIG. 12. Inparticular embodiments, client system 130 may automatically activate thefront-facing camera mode when self-portrait interface 1200 is provided.As shown in FIG. 12, the user may set permissions as to who may accessself-portrait 1210 (e.g., “Only you and the business will be able to seethis.”) and may decline to take self-portrait 1210, send self-portrait1210, or both.

Although this disclosure describes and illustrates particularembodiments of FIG. 12 as being implemented by social-networking system160, this disclosure contemplates any suitable embodiments of FIG. 12occurring on any suitable interface and as being implemented by anysuitable platform or system. As an example, and not by way oflimitation, particular embodiments of FIG. 12 may be implemented by oneor more beacons 310. Furthermore, although this disclosure describes andillustrates particular components, devices, or systems carrying outparticular steps of the method of FIG. 12, this disclosure contemplatesany suitable combination of any suitable components, devices, or systemscarrying out any suitable steps of the method of FIG. 12.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example beacon 310 in a real-world environment1300. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 13, beacon 310 is shown as athree-dimensional object having a multi-faceted casing (inside of whichhardware components may be housed), a substantially flat top, and asubstantially flat bottom. Although depicted in a particular way in FIG.13, beacon 310 may have any suitable shape, form, or design, may beconstructed of any suitable materials or combinations of materials, andmay be free-standing, removably affixed to any suitable surface, orpermanently affixed to any suitable surface. As an example and not byway of limitation, beacon 310 is depicted in FIG. 13 as being affixed toa wooden surface (e.g., via a double-sided adhesive) in real-worldenvironment 1300. Particular embodiments of this disclosure aredescribed as being implemented by or based on information received froma beacon 310 by way of illustration and not by way of limitation. Thisdisclosure contemplates any other suitablegeographic-positioning-capable device or system being used instead of orin addition to one or more beacons 310. As an example and not by way oflimitation, beacon-type functionality may be incorporated into asmartphone of a third-party content provider.

Although this disclosure describes and illustrates particularembodiments of FIG. 13 as being implemented by beacon 310, thisdisclosure contemplates any suitable embodiments of FIG. 13 occurring onany suitable interface and as being implemented by any suitable platformor system. As an example, and not by way of limitation, particularembodiments of FIG. 13 may be implemented by any suitablegraphic-positioning-capable device or system. Furthermore, although thisdisclosure describes and illustrates particular components, devices, orsystems carrying out particular steps of the method of FIG. 13, thisdisclosure contemplates any suitable combination of any suitablecomponents, devices, or systems carrying out any suitable steps of themethod of FIG. 13.

FIG. 14 illustrates an example method 1400 for sending a notification toclient system 130. The method may begin at step 1410, wheresocial-networking system 160 may access social graph 200 comprising aplurality of nodes and a plurality of edges connecting the nodes, eachof the edges between two of the nodes representing a single degree ofseparation between them, the nodes comprising: a first nodecorresponding to a first user of the online social network, and aplurality of second nodes respectively corresponding to a plurality ofsecond users associated with the online social network, each second nodebeing connected to the first node in social graph 200 by a thresholddegree of separation. At step 1420, social-networking system 160 mayreceive, from beacon 310 associated with third-party content provider,session information of the first user, wherein: beacon 310 is associatedwith a particular location within a place associated with thethird-party content provider, and the session information of the firstuser indicates that a first client system 130 of the first user iswithin wireless range of and proximate to beacon 310, a wirelesscommunication session being active between beacon 310 and the firstclient system 130. At step 1430, social-networking system 160 may selectone or more of the second users, wherein each of the second users isselected based on a second location of a second client system 130associated with the second user, the second location being within athreshold distance of the particular location of the beacon 310, andwherein a wireless communication session is not active between thebeacon 310 and each of second client systems 130 associated with theselected second users. At step 1440, social-networking system 160 maysend, to the first client system 130 of the first user, a notificationreferencing one or more of the selected second users. Particularembodiments may repeat one or more steps of the method of FIG. 14, whereappropriate. Although this disclosure describes and illustratesparticular steps of the method of FIG. 14 as occurring in a particularorder, this disclosure contemplates any suitable steps of the method ofFIG. 14 occurring in any suitable order. Moreover, although thisdisclosure describes and illustrates an example method for sending anotification to client system 130, including the particular steps of themethod of FIG. 14, this disclosure contemplates any suitable method forsending a notification to client system 130 including any suitablesteps, which may include all, some, or none of the steps of the methodof FIG. 14, where appropriate. Furthermore, although this disclosuredescribes and illustrates particular components, devices, or systemscarrying out particular steps of the method of FIG. 14, this disclosurecontemplates any suitable combination of any suitable components,devices, or systems carrying out any suitable steps of the method ofFIG. 14.

Social Graph Affinity and Coefficient

In particular embodiments, social-networking system 160 may determinethe social-graph affinity (which may be referred to herein as“affinity”) of various social-graph entities for each other. Affinitymay represent the strength of a relationship or level of interestbetween particular objects associated with the online social network,such as users, concepts, content, actions, advertisements, other objectsassociated with the online social network, or any suitable combinationthereof. Affinity may also be determined with respect to objectsassociated with third-party systems 170 or other suitable systems. Anoverall affinity for a social-graph entity for each user, subjectmatter, or type of content may be established. The overall affinity maychange based on continued monitoring of the actions or relationshipsassociated with the social-graph entity. Although this disclosuredescribes determining particular affinities in a particular manner, thisdisclosure contemplates determining any suitable affinities in anysuitable manner.

In particular embodiments, social-networking system 160 may measure orquantify social-graph affinity using an affinity coefficient (which maybe referred to herein as “coefficient”). The coefficient may representor quantify the strength of a relationship between particular objectsassociated with the online social network. The coefficient may alsorepresent a probability or function that measures a predictedprobability that a user will perform a particular action based on theuser's interest in the action. In this way, a user's future actions maybe predicted based on the user's prior actions, where the coefficientmay be calculated at least in part a the history of the user's actions.Coefficients may be used to predict any number of actions, which may bewithin or outside of the online social network. As an example and not byway of limitation, these actions may include various types ofcommunications, such as sending messages, posting content, or commentingon content; various types of observation actions, such as accessing orviewing profile pages, media, or other suitable content; various typesof coincidence information about two or more social-graph entities, suchas being in the same group, tagged in the same photograph, checked-in atthe same location, or attending the same event; or other suitableactions. Although this disclosure describes measuring affinity in aparticular manner, this disclosure contemplates measuring affinity inany suitable manner.

In particular embodiments, social-networking system 160 may use avariety of factors to calculate a coefficient. These factors mayinclude, for example, user actions, types of relationships betweenobjects, location information, other suitable factors, or anycombination thereof. In particular embodiments, different factors may beweighted differently when calculating the coefficient. The weights foreach factor may be static or the weights may change according to, forexample, the user, the type of relationship, the type of action, theuser's location, and so forth. Ratings for the factors may be combinedaccording to their weights to determine an overall coefficient for theuser. As an example and not by way of limitation, particular useractions may be assigned both a rating and a weight while a relationshipassociated with the particular user action is assigned a rating and acorrelating weight (e.g., so the weights total 100%). To calculate thecoefficient of a user towards a particular object, the rating assignedto the user's actions may comprise, for example, 60% of the overallcoefficient, while the relationship between the user and the object maycomprise 40% of the overall coefficient. In particular embodiments, thesocial-networking system 160 may consider a variety of variables whendetermining weights for various factors used to calculate a coefficient,such as, for example, the time since information was accessed, decayfactors, frequency of access, relationship to information orrelationship to the object about which information was accessed,relationship to social-graph entities connected to the object, short- orlong-term averages of user actions, user feedback, other suitablevariables, or any combination thereof. As an example and not by way oflimitation, a coefficient may include a decay factor that causes thestrength of the signal provided by particular actions to decay withtime, such that more recent actions are more relevant when calculatingthe coefficient. The ratings and weights may be continuously updatedbased on continued tracking of the actions upon which the coefficient isbased. Any type of process or algorithm may be employed for assigning,combining, averaging, and so forth the ratings for each factor and theweights assigned to the factors. In particular embodiments,social-networking system 160 may determine coefficients usingmachine-learning algorithms trained on historical actions and past userresponses, or data farmed from users by exposing them to various optionsand measuring responses. Although this disclosure describes calculatingcoefficients in a particular manner, this disclosure contemplatescalculating coefficients in any suitable manner.

In particular embodiments, social-networking system 160 may calculate acoefficient based on a user's actions. Social-networking system 160 maymonitor such actions on the online social network, on a third-partysystem 170, on other suitable systems, or any combination thereof. Anysuitable type of user actions may be tracked or monitored. Typical useractions include viewing profile pages, creating or posting content,interacting with content, tagging or being tagged in images, joininggroups, listing and confirming attendance at events, checking-in atlocations, liking particular pages, creating pages, and performing othertasks that facilitate social action. In particular embodiments,social-networking system 160 may calculate a coefficient based on theuser's actions with particular types of content. The content may beassociated with the online social network, a third-party system 170, oranother suitable system. The content may include users, profile pages,posts, news stories, headlines, instant messages, chat roomconversations, emails, advertisements, pictures, video, music, othersuitable objects, or any combination thereof. Social-networking system160 may analyze a user's actions to determine whether one or more of theactions indicate an affinity for subject matter, content, other users,and so forth. As an example and not by way of limitation, if a user maymake frequently posts content related to “coffee” or variants thereof,social-networking system 160 may determine the user has a highcoefficient with respect to the concept “coffee.” Particular actions ortypes of actions may be assigned a higher weight and/or rating thanother actions, which may affect the overall calculated coefficient. Asan example and not by way of limitation, if a first user emails a seconduser, the weight or the rating for the action may be higher than if thefirst user simply views the user-profile page for the second user.

In particular embodiments, social-networking system 160 may calculate acoefficient based on the type of relationship between particularobjects. Referencing the social graph 200, social-networking system 160may analyze the number and/or type of edges 206 connecting particularuser nodes 202 and concept nodes 204 when calculating a coefficient. Asan example and not by way of limitation, user nodes 202 that areconnected by a spouse-type edge (representing that the two users aremarried) may be assigned a higher coefficient than a user nodes 202 thatare connected by a friend-type edge. In other words, depending upon theweights assigned to the actions and relationships for the particularuser, the overall affinity may be determined to be higher for contentabout the user's spouse than for content about the user's friend. Inparticular embodiments, the relationships a user has with another objectmay affect the weights and/or the ratings of the user's actions withrespect to calculating the coefficient for that object. As an exampleand not by way of limitation, if a user is tagged in first photo, butmerely likes a second photo, social-networking system 160 may determinethat the user has a higher coefficient with respect to the first photothan the second photo because having a tagged-in-type relationship withcontent may be assigned a higher weight and/or rating than having alike-type relationship with content. In particular embodiments,social-networking system 160 may calculate a coefficient for a firstuser based on the relationship one or more second users have with aparticular object. In other words, the connections and coefficientsother users have with an object may affect the first user's coefficientfor the object. As an example and not by way of limitation, if a firstuser is connected to or has a high coefficient for one or more secondusers, and those second users are connected to or have a highcoefficient for a particular object, social-networking system 160 maydetermine that the first user should also have a relatively highcoefficient for the particular object. In particular embodiments, thecoefficient may be based on the degree of separation between particularobjects. The lower coefficient may represent the decreasing likelihoodthat the first user will share an interest in content objects of theuser that is indirectly connected to the first user in the social graph200. As an example and not by way of limitation, social-graph entitiesthat are closer in the social graph 200 (i.e., fewer degrees ofseparation) may have a higher coefficient than entities that are furtherapart in the social graph 200.

In particular embodiments, social-networking system 160 may calculate acoefficient based on location information. Objects that aregeographically closer to each other may be considered to be more relatedor of more interest to each other than more distant objects. Inparticular embodiments, the coefficient of a user towards a particularobject may be based on the proximity of the object's location to acurrent location associated with the user (or the location of a clientsystem 130 of the user). A first user may be more interested in otherusers or concepts that are closer to the first user. As an example andnot by way of limitation, if a user is one mile from an airport and twomiles from a gas station, social-networking system 160 may determinethat the user has a higher coefficient for the airport than the gasstation based on the proximity of the airport to the user.

In particular embodiments, social-networking system 160 may performparticular actions with respect to a user based on coefficientinformation. Coefficients may be used to predict whether a user willperform a particular action based on the user's interest in the action.A coefficient may be used when generating or presenting any type ofobjects to a user, such as advertisements, search results, news stories,media, messages, notifications, or other suitable objects. Thecoefficient may also be utilized to rank and order such objects, asappropriate. In this way, social-networking system 160 may provideinformation that is relevant to user's interests and currentcircumstances, increasing the likelihood that they will find suchinformation of interest. In particular embodiments, social-networkingsystem 160 may generate content based on coefficient information.Content objects may be provided or selected based on coefficientsspecific to a user. As an example and not by way of limitation, thecoefficient may be used to generate media for the user, where the usermay be presented with media for which the user has a high overallcoefficient with respect to the media object. As another example and notby way of limitation, the coefficient may be used to generateadvertisements for the user, where the user may be presented withadvertisements for which the user has a high overall coefficient withrespect to the advertised object. In particular embodiments,social-networking system 160 may generate search results based oncoefficient information. Search results for a particular user may bescored or ranked based on the coefficient associated with the searchresults with respect to the first querying user. As an example and notby way of limitation, search results corresponding to objects withhigher coefficients may be ranked higher on a search-results page thanresults corresponding to objects having lower coefficients.

In particular embodiments, social-networking system 160 may calculate acoefficient in response to a request for a coefficient from a particularsystem or process. To predict the likely actions a user may take (or maybe the subject of) in a given situation, any process may request acalculated coefficient for a user. The request may also include a set ofweights to use for various factors used to calculate the coefficient.This request may come from a process running on the online socialnetwork, from a third-party system 170 (e.g., via an API or othercommunication channel), or from another suitable system. In response tothe request, social-networking system 160 may calculate the coefficient(or access the coefficient information if it has previously beencalculated and stored). In particular embodiments, social-networkingsystem 160 may measure an affinity with respect to a particular process.Different processes (both internal and external to the online socialnetwork) may request a coefficient for a particular object or set ofobjects. Social-networking system 160 may provide a measure of affinitythat is relevant to the particular process that requested the measure ofaffinity. In this way, each process receives a measure of affinity thatis tailored for the different context in which the process will use themeasure of affinity.

In connection with social-graph affinity and affinity coefficients,particular embodiments may utilize one or more systems, components,elements, functions, methods, operations, or steps disclosed in U.S.patent application Ser. No. 11/503,093, filed 11 Aug. 2006, U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/977,027, filed 22 Dec. 2010, U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/978,265, filed 23 Dec. 2010, and U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/632,869, filed 1 Oct. 2012, each of which isincorporated by reference.

Advertising

In particular embodiments, an advertisement may be text (which may beHTML-linked), one or more images (which may be HTML-linked), one or morevideos, audio, one or more ADOBE FLASH files, a suitable combination ofthese, or any other suitable advertisement in any suitable digitalformat presented on one or more webpages, in one or more e-mails, or inconnection with search results requested by a user. In addition or as analternative, an advertisement may be one or more sponsored stories(e.g., a news-feed or ticker item on social-networking system 160). Asponsored story may be a social action by a user (such as “liking” apage, “liking” or commenting on a post on a page, RSVPing to an eventassociated with a page, voting on a question posted on a page, checkingin to a place, using an application or playing a game, or “liking” orsharing a website) that an advertiser promotes, for example, by havingthe social action presented within a pre-determined area of a profilepage of a user or other page, presented with additional informationassociated with the advertiser, bumped up or otherwise highlightedwithin news feeds or tickers of other users, or otherwise promoted. Theadvertiser may pay to have the social action promoted. As an example andnot by way of limitation, advertisements may be included among thesearch results of a search-results page, where sponsored content ispromoted over non-sponsored content.

In particular embodiments, an advertisement may be requested for displaywithin social-networking-system webpages, third-party webpages, or otherpages. An advertisement may be displayed in a dedicated portion of apage, such as in a banner area at the top of the page, in a column atthe side of the page, in a GUI of the page, in a pop-up window, in adrop-down menu, in an input field of the page, over the top of contentof the page, or elsewhere with respect to the page. In addition or as analternative, an advertisement may be displayed within an application. Anadvertisement may be displayed within dedicated pages, requiring theuser to interact with or watch the advertisement before the user mayaccess a page or utilize an application. The user may, for example viewthe advertisement through a web browser.

A user may interact with an advertisement in any suitable manner. Theuser may click or otherwise select the advertisement. By selecting theadvertisement, the user may be directed to (or a browser or otherapplication being used by the user) a page associated with theadvertisement. At the page associated with the advertisement, the usermay take additional actions, such as purchasing a product or serviceassociated with the advertisement, receiving information associated withthe advertisement, or subscribing to a newsletter associated with theadvertisement. An advertisement with audio or video may be played byselecting a component of the advertisement (like a “play button”).Alternatively, by selecting the advertisement, social-networking system160 may execute or modify a particular action of the user.

An advertisement may also include social-networking-system functionalitythat a user may interact with. As an example and not by way oflimitation, an advertisement may enable a user to “like” or otherwiseendorse the advertisement by selecting an icon or link associated withendorsement. As another example and not by way of limitation, anadvertisement may enable a user to search (e.g., by executing a query)for content related to the advertiser. Similarly, a user may share theadvertisement with another user (e.g., through social-networking system160) or RSVP (e.g., through social-networking system 160) to an eventassociated with the advertisement. In addition or as an alternative, anadvertisement may include social-networking-system context directed tothe user. As an example and not by way of limitation, an advertisementmay display information about a friend of the user withinsocial-networking system 160 who has taken an action associated with thesubject matter of the advertisement.

Privacy

In particular embodiments, one or more of the content objects of theonline social network may be associated with a privacy setting. Theprivacy settings (or “access settings”) for an object may be stored inany suitable manner, such as, for example, in association with theobject, in an index on an authorization server, in another suitablemanner, or any combination thereof. A privacy setting of an object mayspecify how the object (or particular information associated with anobject) can be accessed (e.g., viewed or shared) using the online socialnetwork. Where the privacy settings for an object allow a particularuser to access that object, the object may be described as being“visible” with respect to that user. As an example and not by way oflimitation, a user of the online social network may specify privacysettings for a user-profile page identify a set of users that may accessthe work experience information on the user-profile page, thus excludingother users from accessing the information. In particular embodiments,the privacy settings may specify a “blocked list” of users that shouldnot be allowed to access certain information associated with the object.In other words, the blocked list may specify one or more users orentities for which an object is not visible. As an example and not byway of limitation, a user may specify a set of users that may not accessphotos albums associated with the user, thus excluding those users fromaccessing the photo albums (while also possibly allowing certain usersnot within the set of users to access the photo albums). In particularembodiments, privacy settings may be associated with particularsocial-graph elements. Privacy settings of a social-graph element, suchas a node or an edge, may specify how the social-graph element,information associated with the social-graph element, or content objectsassociated with the social-graph element can be accessed using theonline social network. As an example and not by way of limitation, aparticular concept node 204 corresponding to a particular photo may havea privacy setting specifying that the photo may only be accessed byusers tagged in the photo and their friends. In particular embodiments,privacy settings may allow users to opt in or opt out of having theiractions logged by social-networking system 160 or shared with othersystems (e.g., third-party system 170). In particular embodiments, theprivacy settings associated with an object may specify any suitablegranularity of permitted access or denial of access. As an example andnot by way of limitation, access or denial of access may be specifiedfor particular users (e.g., only me, my roommates, and my boss), userswithin a particular degrees-of-separation (e.g., friends, orfriends-of-friends), user groups (e.g., the gaming club, my family),user networks (e.g., employees of particular employers, students oralumni of particular university), all users (“public”), no users(“private”), users of third-party systems 170, particular applications(e.g., third-party applications, external websites), other suitableusers or entities, or any combination thereof. Although this disclosuredescribes using particular privacy settings in a particular manner, thisdisclosure contemplates using any suitable privacy settings in anysuitable manner.

In particular embodiments, one or more servers 162 may beauthorization/privacy servers for enforcing privacy settings. Inresponse to a request from a user (or other entity) for a particularobject stored in a data store 164, social-networking system 160 may senda request to the data store 164 for the object. The request may identifythe user associated with the request and may only be sent to the user(or a client system 130 of the user) if the authorization serverdetermines that the user is authorized to access the object based on theprivacy settings associated with the object. If the requesting user isnot authorized to access the object, the authorization server mayprevent the requested object from being retrieved from the data store164, or may prevent the requested object from be sent to the user. Inthe search query context, an object may only be generated as a searchresult if the querying user is authorized to access the object. In otherwords, the object must have a visibility that is visible to the queryinguser. If the object has a visibility that is not visible to the user,the object may be excluded from the search results. Although thisdisclosure describes enforcing privacy settings in a particular manner,this disclosure contemplates enforcing privacy settings in any suitablemanner.

Systems and Methods

FIG. 15 illustrates an example computer system 1500. In particularembodiments, one or more computer systems 1500 perform one or more stepsof one or more methods described or illustrated herein. In particularembodiments, one or more computer systems 1500 provide functionalitydescribed or illustrated herein. In particular embodiments, softwarerunning on one or more computer systems 1500 performs one or more stepsof one or more methods described or illustrated herein or providesfunctionality described or illustrated herein. Particular embodimentsinclude one or more portions of one or more computer systems 1500.Herein, reference to a computer system may encompass a computing device,and vice versa, where appropriate. Moreover, reference to a computersystem may encompass one or more computer systems, where appropriate.

This disclosure contemplates any suitable number of computer systems1500. This disclosure contemplates computer system 1500 taking anysuitable physical form. As example and not by way of limitation,computer system 1500 may be an embedded computer system, asystem-on-chip (SOC), a single-board computer system (SBC) (such as, forexample, a computer-on-module (COM) or system-on-module (SOM)), adesktop computer system, a laptop or notebook computer system, aninteractive kiosk, a mainframe, a mesh of computer systems, a mobiletelephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a server, a tabletcomputer system, or a combination of two or more of these. Whereappropriate, computer system 1500 may include one or more computersystems 1500; be unitary or distributed; span multiple locations; spanmultiple machines; span multiple data centers; or reside in a cloud,which may include one or more cloud components in one or more networks.Where appropriate, one or more computer systems 1500 may perform withoutsubstantial spatial or temporal limitation one or more steps of one ormore methods described or illustrated herein. As an example and not byway of limitation, one or more computer systems 1500 may perform in realtime or in batch mode one or more steps of one or more methods describedor illustrated herein. One or more computer systems 1500 may perform atdifferent times or at different locations one or more steps of one ormore methods described or illustrated herein, where appropriate.

In particular embodiments, computer system 1500 includes a processor1502, memory 1504, storage 1506, an input/output (I/O) interface 1508, acommunication interface 1510, and a bus 1512. Although this disclosuredescribes and illustrates a particular computer system having aparticular number of particular components in a particular arrangement,this disclosure contemplates any suitable computer system having anysuitable number of any suitable components in any suitable arrangement.

In particular embodiments, processor 1502 includes hardware forexecuting instructions, such as those making up a computer program. Asan example and not by way of limitation, to execute instructions,processor 1502 may retrieve (or fetch) the instructions from an internalregister, an internal cache, memory 1504, or storage 1506; decode andexecute them; and then write one or more results to an internalregister, an internal cache, memory 1504, or storage 1506. In particularembodiments, processor 1502 may include one or more internal caches fordata, instructions, or addresses. This disclosure contemplates processor1502 including any suitable number of any suitable internal caches,where appropriate. As an example and not by way of limitation, processor1502 may include one or more instruction caches, one or more datacaches, and one or more translation lookaside buffers (TLBs).Instructions in the instruction caches may be copies of instructions inmemory 1504 or storage 1506, and the instruction caches may speed upretrieval of those instructions by processor 1502. Data in the datacaches may be copies of data in memory 1504 or storage 1506 forinstructions executing at processor 1502 to operate on; the results ofprevious instructions executed at processor 1502 for access bysubsequent instructions executing at processor 1502 or for writing tomemory 1504 or storage 1506; or other suitable data. The data caches mayspeed up read or write operations by processor 1502. The TLBs may speedup virtual-address translation for processor 1502. In particularembodiments, processor 1502 may include one or more internal registersfor data, instructions, or addresses. This disclosure contemplatesprocessor 1502 including any suitable number of any suitable internalregisters, where appropriate. Where appropriate, processor 1502 mayinclude one or more arithmetic logic units (ALUs); be a multi-coreprocessor; or include one or more processors 1502. Although thisdisclosure describes and illustrates a particular processor, thisdisclosure contemplates any suitable processor.

In particular embodiments, memory 1504 includes main memory for storinginstructions for processor 1502 to execute or data for processor 1502 tooperate on. As an example and not by way of limitation, computer system1500 may load instructions from storage 1506 or another source (such as,for example, another computer system 1500) to memory 1504. Processor1502 may then load the instructions from memory 1504 to an internalregister or internal cache. To execute the instructions, processor 1502may retrieve the instructions from the internal register or internalcache and decode them. During or after execution of the instructions,processor 1502 may write one or more results (which may be intermediateor final results) to the internal register or internal cache. Processor1502 may then write one or more of those results to memory 1504. Inparticular embodiments, processor 1502 executes only instructions in oneor more internal registers or internal caches or in memory 1504 (asopposed to storage 1506 or elsewhere) and operates only on data in oneor more internal registers or internal caches or in memory 1504 (asopposed to storage 1506 or elsewhere). One or more memory buses (whichmay each include an address bus and a data bus) may couple processor1502 to memory 1504. Bus 1512 may include one or more memory buses, asdescribed below. In particular embodiments, one or more memorymanagement units (MMUs) reside between processor 1502 and memory 1504and facilitate accesses to memory 1504 requested by processor 1502. Inparticular embodiments, memory 1504 includes random access memory (RAM).This RAM may be volatile memory, where appropriate Where appropriate,this RAM may be dynamic RAM (DRAM) or static RAM (SRAM). Moreover, whereappropriate, this RAM may be single-ported or multi-ported RAM. Thisdisclosure contemplates any suitable RAM. Memory 1504 may include one ormore memories 1504, where appropriate. Although this disclosuredescribes and illustrates particular memory, this disclosurecontemplates any suitable memory.

In particular embodiments, storage 1506 includes mass storage for dataor instructions. As an example and not by way of limitation, storage1506 may include a hard disk drive (HDD), a floppy disk drive, flashmemory, an optical disc, a magneto-optical disc, magnetic tape, or aUniversal Serial Bus (USB) drive or a combination of two or more ofthese. Storage 1506 may include removable or non-removable (or fixed)media, where appropriate. Storage 1506 may be internal or external tocomputer system 1500, where appropriate. In particular embodiments,storage 1506 is non-volatile, solid-state memory. In particularembodiments, storage 1506 includes read-only memory (ROM). Whereappropriate, this ROM may be mask-programmed ROM, programmable ROM(PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM), electrically erasable PROM (EEPROM),electrically alterable ROM (EAROM), or flash memory or a combination oftwo or more of these. This disclosure contemplates mass storage 1506taking any suitable physical form. Storage 1506 may include one or morestorage control units facilitating communication between processor 1502and storage 1506, where appropriate. Where appropriate, storage 1506 mayinclude one or more storages 1506. Although this disclosure describesand illustrates particular storage, this disclosure contemplates anysuitable storage.

In particular embodiments, I/O interface 1508 includes hardware,software, or both, providing one or more interfaces for communicationbetween computer system 1500 and one or more I/O devices. Computersystem 1500 may include one or more of these I/O devices, whereappropriate. One or more of these I/O devices may enable communicationbetween a person and computer system 1500. As an example and not by wayof limitation, an I/O device may include a keyboard, keypad, microphone,monitor, mouse, printer, scanner, speaker, still camera, stylus, tablet,touch screen, trackball, video camera, another suitable I/O device or acombination of two or more of these. An I/O device may include one ormore sensors. This disclosure contemplates any suitable I/O devices andany suitable I/O interfaces 1508 for them. Where appropriate, I/Ointerface 1508 may include one or more device or software driversenabling processor 1502 to drive one or more of these I/O devices. I/Ointerface 1508 may include one or more I/O interfaces 1508, whereappropriate. Although this disclosure describes and illustrates aparticular I/O interface, this disclosure contemplates any suitable I/Ointerface.

In particular embodiments, communication interface 1510 includeshardware, software, or both providing one or more interfaces forcommunication (such as, for example, packet-based communication) betweencomputer system 1500 and one or more other computer systems 1500 or oneor more networks. As an example and not by way of limitation,communication interface 1510 may include a network interface controller(NIC) or network adapter for communicating with an Ethernet or otherwire-based network or a wireless NIC (WNIC) or wireless adapter forcommunicating with a wireless network, such as a WI-FI network. Thisdisclosure contemplates any suitable network and any suitablecommunication interface 1510 for it. As an example and not by way oflimitation, computer system 1500 may communicate with an ad hoc network,a personal area network (PAN), a local area network (LAN), a wide areanetwork (WAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), or one or moreportions of the Internet or a combination of two or more of these. Oneor more portions of one or more of these networks may be wired orwireless. As an example, computer system 1500 may communicate with awireless PAN (WPAN) (such as, for example, a BLUETOOTH WPAN), a WI-FInetwork, a WI-MAX network, a cellular telephone network (such as, forexample, a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network), orother suitable wireless network or a combination of two or more ofthese. Computer system 1500 may include any suitable communicationinterface 1510 for any of these networks, where appropriate.Communication interface 1510 may include one or more communicationinterfaces 1510, where appropriate. Although this disclosure describesand illustrates a particular communication interface, this disclosurecontemplates any suitable communication interface.

In particular embodiments, bus 1512 includes hardware, software, or bothcoupling components of computer system 1500 to each other. As an exampleand not by way of limitation, bus 1512 may include an AcceleratedGraphics Port (AGP) or other graphics bus, an Enhanced Industry StandardArchitecture (EISA) bus, a front-side bus (FSB), a HYPERTRANSPORT (HT)interconnect, an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, an INFINIBANDinterconnect, a low-pin-count (LPC) bus, a memory bus, a Micro ChannelArchitecture (MCA) bus, a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, aPCI-Express (PCIe) bus, a serial advanced technology attachment (SATA)bus, a Video Electronics Standards Association local (VLB) bus, oranother suitable bus or a combination of two or more of these. Bus 1512may include one or more buses 1512, where appropriate. Although thisdisclosure describes and illustrates a particular bus, this disclosurecontemplates any suitable bus or interconnect.

Herein, a computer-readable non-transitory storage medium or media mayinclude one or more semiconductor-based or other integrated circuits(ICs) (such, as for example, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) orapplication-specific ICs (ASICs)), hard disk drives (HDDs), hybrid harddrives (HHDs), optical discs, optical disc drives (ODDs),magneto-optical discs, magneto-optical drives, floppy diskettes, floppydisk drives (FDDs), magnetic tapes, solid-state drives (SSDs),RAM-drives, SECURE DIGITAL cards or drives, any other suitablecomputer-readable non-transitory storage media, or any suitablecombination of two or more of these, where appropriate. Acomputer-readable non-transitory storage medium may be volatile,non-volatile, or a combination of volatile and non-volatile, whereappropriate.

Miscellaneous

Herein, “or” is inclusive and not exclusive, unless expressly indicatedotherwise or indicated otherwise by context. Therefore, herein, “A or B”means “A, B, or both,” unless expressly indicated otherwise or indicatedotherwise by context. Moreover, “and” is both joint and several, unlessexpressly indicated otherwise or indicated otherwise by context.Therefore, herein, “A and B” means “A and B, jointly or severally,”unless expressly indicated otherwise or indicated otherwise by context.

The scope of this disclosure encompasses all changes, substitutions,variations, alterations, and modifications to the example embodimentsdescribed or illustrated herein that a person having ordinary skill inthe art would comprehend. The scope of this disclosure is not limited tothe example embodiments described or illustrated herein. Moreover,although this disclosure describes and illustrates respectiveembodiments herein as including particular components, elements,feature, functions, operations, or steps, any of these embodiments mayinclude any combination or permutation of any of the components,elements, features, functions, operations, or steps described orillustrated anywhere herein that a person having ordinary skill in theart would comprehend. Furthermore, reference in the appended claims toan apparatus or system or a component of an apparatus or system beingadapted to, arranged to, capable of, configured to, enabled to, operableto, or operative to perform a particular function encompasses thatapparatus, system, component, whether or not it or that particularfunction is activated, turned on, or unlocked, as long as thatapparatus, system, or component is so adapted, arranged, capable,configured, enabled, operable, or operative.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising, by one or more computingdevices of an online social network: accessing a social graph comprisinga plurality of nodes and a plurality of edges connecting the nodes, eachof the edges between two of the nodes representing a single degree ofseparation between them, the nodes comprising: a first nodecorresponding to a first user of the online social network, and aplurality of second nodes respectively corresponding to a plurality ofsecond users associated with the online social network, each second nodebeing connected to the first node in the social graph by a thresholddegree of separation; receiving, from a beacon associated with athird-party content provider, session information of the first user,wherein: the beacon is associated with a particular location within aplace associated with the third-party content provider, and the sessioninformation of the first user indicates that a first client system ofthe first user is within wireless range of and proximate to the beacon,a wireless communication session being active between the beacon and thefirst client system; selecting one or more of the second users, whereinthe selecting is based on a second location of a second client systemassociated with the second user, the second location being within athreshold distance of the particular location of the beacon, and whereina wireless communication session is not active between the beacon andeach of second client systems associated with the selected second users;and sending, to the first client system of the first user, anotification referencing one or more of the selected second users. 2.The method of claim 1, wherein the threshold degree of separation isone, two, three, or all.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:receiving, from the first client system, a request to invite at leastone of the selected second users referenced in the notification to theplace associated with the third-party content provider; and sending, inresponse to the request, a message to the second client system of the atleast one selected second user.
 4. The method of claim 3, furthercomprising: sending, to the first client system, updated locationinformation for the at least one selected second user when a wirelesscommunication system is established between the second client system ofthe at least one second user and the beacon.
 5. The method of claim 3,wherein the message comprises: an invitation to join the first user atthe place associated with the third-party content provider; and a promptto respond to the invitation.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein themessage further comprises location information of the place associatedwith the third-party content provider.
 7. The method of claim 5, whereinthe message further comprises an identifier of at least one third userof an online social network, the at least one third user beingassociated with a respective third client system, wherein a wirelesscommunication session is active between the beacon and the third clientsystem.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, from thebeacon, session information for at least one second user.
 9. The methodof claim 8, wherein the selecting of one or more second users is furtherbased on the received session information of the at least one seconduser.
 10. The method of claim, 9 wherein the session information of theat least one second user comprises a history of one or more priorwireless communication sessions established between the beacon and thesecond client system of the at least one second user.
 11. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the selecting of one or more second users is furtherbased on user preferences of at least one second user.
 12. The method ofclaim 11, wherein the user preferences of the at least one second userindicate a preference for a type of good or service, and wherein thethird-party content provider comprises the preferred type of good orservice.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting of one or moresecond users is further based on an affinity coefficient of at least onesecond node with respect to a third node in the social graph, the thirdnode corresponding to the third-party content provider.
 14. The methodof claim 13, wherein the affinity coefficient is based on one or moreedges connecting the at least one second node to the third node.
 15. Oneor more computer-readable non-transitory storage media embodyingsoftware that is operable when executed to: access a social graphcomprising a plurality of nodes and a plurality of edges connecting thenodes, each of the edges between two of the nodes representing a singledegree of separation between them, the nodes comprising: a first nodecorresponding to a first user of the online social network, and aplurality of second nodes respectively corresponding to a plurality ofsecond users associated with the online social network, each second nodebeing connected to the first node in the social graph by a thresholddegree of separation; receive, from a beacon associated with athird-party content provider, session information of the first user,wherein: the beacon is associated with a particular location within aplace associated with the third-party content provider, and the sessioninformation of the first user indicates that a first client system ofthe first user is within wireless range of and proximate to the beacon,a wireless communication session being active between the beacon and thefirst client system; select one or more of the second users, wherein theselecting is based on a second location of a second client systemassociated with the second user, the second location being within athreshold distance of the particular location of the beacon, and whereina wireless communication session is not active between the beacon andeach of second client systems associated with the selected second users;and send, to the first client system of the first user, a notificationreferencing one or more of the selected second users.
 16. The media ofclaim 15, further comprising: receiving, from the first client system, arequest to invite at least one of the selected second users referencedin the notification to the place associated with the third-party contentprovider; and sending, in response to the request, a message to thesecond client system of the at least one selected second user.
 17. Themedia of claim 16, further comprising: sending, to the first clientsystem, updated location information for the at least one selectedsecond user when a wireless communication system is established betweenthe second client system of the at least one second user and the beacon.18. A system comprising: one or more processors; and a memory coupled tothe processors comprising instructions executable by the processors, theprocessors being operable when executing the instructions to: access asocial graph comprising a plurality of nodes and a plurality of edgesconnecting the nodes, each of the edges between two of the nodesrepresenting a single degree of separation between them, the nodescomprising: a first node corresponding to a first user of the onlinesocial network, and a plurality of second nodes respectivelycorresponding to a plurality of second users associated with the onlinesocial network, each second node being connected to the first node inthe social graph by a threshold degree of separation; receive, from abeacon associated with a third-party content provider, sessioninformation of the first user, wherein: the beacon is associated with aparticular location within a place associated with the third-partycontent provider, and the session information of the first userindicates that a first client system of the first user is withinwireless range of and proximate to the beacon, a wireless communicationsession being active between the beacon and the first client system;select one or more of the second users, wherein the selecting is basedon a second location of a second client system associated with thesecond user, the second location being within a threshold distance ofthe particular location of the beacon, and wherein a wirelesscommunication session is not active between the beacon and each ofsecond client systems associated with the selected second users; andsend, to the first client system of the first user, a notificationreferencing one or more of the selected second users.
 19. The system ofclaim 18, further comprising: receiving, from the first client system, arequest to invite at least one of the selected second users referencedin the notification to the place associated with the third-party contentprovider; and sending, in response to the request, a message to thesecond client system of the at least one selected second user.
 20. Thesystem of claim 19, further comprising: sending, to the first clientsystem, updated location information for the at least one selectedsecond user when a wireless communication system is established betweenthe second client system of the at least one second user and the beacon.